Minecraft The Block Dweller Chronicles: Kai's Tale
by asarmstrong
Summary: A tale of a lone block dweller in the harsh and unforgiving land of Minecraft
1. Chapter 1: Kicked out of the Nest

**Chapter 1: Kicked out of the Nest**

The term flying the nest always seemed like a positive and progressive time in any individuals life, a time that symbolised when a person has traversed the gauntlet of their infancy survival training and concluded their 'Right of Passage' into adulthood.

For the lucky graduate; such a time was usually celebrated by the receiving of a number of fascinating presents and gifts from fellow block dwellers, such items would include leather armour, ores or even mouth watering delicacies like sugar cakes. However for the parents of the lucky graduate it was customary to bestow upon their young a golden pickaxe or any other labour tool so he or she can head out into the harsh block land and make a start in making a life for themselves.

However some aren't so lucky...

Kai knew something was different this morning whilst performing his daily chores, it didn't start of odd in particular, the Cluckers had laid their usual half dozen eggs as per usual and the sheep shearing was equally as rewarding. No, it was something to do with the distant echo of an explosion and vibration up in the Northern area... near home. The sun was nearing its apex and the morning scouting had confirmed the outer area was fiend free from the night before and safe to wonder outside. But some creatures didn't play by the rules; some were quick and sneaky and weren't put off by the mere sight of sunlight if they sensed man in their reach.

No one knew their true names or nature, nor did anyone know from whence they originally came from or how they came to be but Block Dweller lore had come to know them by the name of 'Creepers' for their slick and malicious nature. The Creepers were considered perhaps one of the most dangerous of creatures that roamed the land, renowned for their lethally rapid and silent approach, to the deadly siren it gives off before blowing up in a massive blast radius beside their unsuspecting victim in a suicidal rage.

Kai's curiosity about the weird noise and ground tremor had excelled further in his mind from being merely curious to more towards concern, so he considered this strange abnormal event to be reason enough to boycott his initial plan of venturing towards the 'White Hills' that would normally result in lobbing a few friendly snowballs at unsuspecting wild cattle or Cluckers and head home.

It didn't take long for Kai to reach his families block dwelling. Normally he would be welcomed to the smell of fresh bacon cooking in the Kitchen furnace by mother or by the sight of the crimson coloured Roses that was planted outside the front door by Father. Instead Kai smelt no sizzling bacon, found no sign of the wooden front door, nor any sign of a single flower or even a petal that once blossomed around there.

Kai slowly walked over towards the hillside that was once originally the entrance to his families' dwelling to find himself looking down to a darkened void of rubble and dirt that was scattered far below in a deep pit. Kai peered over the edge of the abyss, the sound of rubble still crumbling deeper into the pit was echoing within the cave. He knew any attempt to descend down into the pit would have been both feeble and suicidal; the pit was too high and treacherous to climb down. Kai knew that even if he was successful in a descent it would have been totally pointless anyway; the pit was devoid of any light and would prove fruitless in tracking down any remnants of his protected life or useful tools that once belonged to his family that had survived the blast.

Minutes turned to hours whilst Kai sat down resting his back amongst the scorched walls of the cave whilst hanging his legs over the lip of the crater. The tears that he shed now dried, leaving vertical trails among the side of each cheek. The same question recurring over and over in his mind: _What happened? Why them and why not me?,_ hoping that all of a sudden it would all just make sense.

Kai leaned forward and cleared away the water marks and dirt stains that was littered around his eyes and carefully rose to his feet watching his step to avoid accidentally plunging into the darkness below. He slowly walked around the circular pit towards the sun light leaking in from the outside of the cave, but something in the corner of the cave caught his eye. Something small lay dormant on the ground, he approached the object clearing the blanket of dirt and debris that lay upon it, it was a small rucksack. Kai took the pack out of the cave to look upon it in the daylight; it was neatly tailored made out of a carefully tanned leather material, perhaps cattle hide. Two gold buckles on its front that tied it shut, and decorated with dyed cotton lace on both sides. Kai knew this was too spacious an object for his family to ever own or ever need. His father and mother had both been retired miners that settled for living off the land whilst isolating themselves from the rest of the world; decorative backpacks would be pointless to them. Kai emptied the sack upon the ground and was surprised to find that the only thing that fell out was a handful of maroon coloured powder, he examined the substance in his fingers it was not to dissimilar in colour to that of paprika but as hard as grit. He collected as much as he could from the floor and poured it back into the rucksack along with the few eggs and lumps of wool he collected earlier in the day. _Whose is this? Why was it in there?_ He thought to himself with a puzzled expression on his face. Kai buckled the rucksack shut and flung it over his shoulder, 'someone in Rabantre will know' Kai announced out loud to himself and moved away from the cave, not looking back.

Kai had walked for a couple of hours along the path to Rabantre remembering the route he'd once taken long ago with his Mother when his Father's bowstring and quiver were damaged beyond home repair and needed to be tended professionally by the smithy. The town was not far north from where his family used to dwell and just few hours trek if he took a shortcut through a dense forest that could be seen from miles away. Kai knew that if he'd brave the woods and maintained the steady pace he'd been walking he'd reach the town safely before nightfall.

Kai looked upon the dark shadow of the dense forest that stood before him, it was a labyrinth of trees and vegetation as far as the eye can see, the sound of birds chirping were echoing from within and the sound of distant water splashing against the rocks could be heard, probably from a river or a stream. Kai proceeded through the forest, each tree towering above him like a colossus, their mighty trunks coated in a thick layer of moss and their branches stretching across one another blocking out the sunlight and leaving the ground in a cool shade. The smell of oak and pine tickled up Kai's nostrils whilst he slalomed around the trees, his mind focused on staying on course and not slowing down.

Kai had strolled through the wilderness for over an hour, guessing he was roughly half way through the forest, looking up he could still see the sunlight leaking its warm rays through the gaps of the leaves above him, he knew he was making good time. Walking further on; Kai had stumbled upon a large hollow that lay deep into the ground, no trees closely surrounding it had allowed the sunlight to flood in upon it like a beam of light descending from the heavens. Kai jumped carefully down into the small hollow whilst ensuring he bent his knees when he landed, there had been many times he landed wrong after jumping of the back of a pig and consequently led to him having to limp home. The hollow itself was perfectly rounded and considerably deep unlike the ground that surrounded it that was coated in green vegetation that hollow itself did not; instead it bore only dirt and soil as if the grass and earth had been viciously pulled out from the ground along with the trees that stood beside it by a giant hand from the sky. However within the hollow Kai discovered a small collection of wooden blocks that lay scattered around his feet, remnants of the trees that once stood there perhaps. The cool breeze that flooded in from the large gap above him had started to make Kai feel an overcoming sense of drowsiness and the temptation to take off his backpack and rest upon the side of the hollow was too great. _A little rest wouldn't hurt _Kai thought to himself, as he lowered himself onto the ground of the hollow, resting his back among the side of the dry dirt. His backpack dropping from his left shoulder to the ground and then rested his now dirt stained hand upon it. His eyes fixated upon the wind blowing upon the leaves above him and his mind's eye filled with images of marooned coloured powder falling through his fingertips and his family walking further and further away, all the while Kai's eyes lids getting ever more heavier until they could stay open no longer.


	2. Chapter 2: Horrors of Nightfall

**Chapter 2: Horrors of Nightfall**

It seemed at first that Kai had only closed his eyes for a few seconds that was the plan anyway, a little shut eye wouldn't hurt he told himself. However the miles of travelling across the plains under a scorching sun and through a woodland labyrinth had got the better of him and his eyes remained closed for more than a few seconds. When he opened his eyes, shock flooded in and he felt for a second like his heart had stopped, he slowly rose to his feet, branches and leaves dropping off from his dark green jacket and looked around his surroundings with a sense of fear and dread upon his face. He realised that the harmless few seconds of shut eye were not as innocent as he initially thought, no longer was the large ray of sunlight beaming in through the gaps of the leaves above him, the heavens were now blanketed in a cold inky black sky and the horror of night had befallen upon him whilst he overslept.

Kai knew all too well that many different creatures with the lust for the taste of blood lived in the darkest corners of the world and roamed the lands freely at night. He slowly walked back to his backpack that lay rested upon the side of the hollow where he left it and knelt down to gather up the wooden blocks and that lay scattered around it, whilst muffling any escaping sound that he made.

Kai feared the night; he knew what it meant, what was coming. Kai remembered when he was a young boy sitting with his Father in a torch lit bedroom, him being told fairytales of fowl monsters that roamed the lands at night; zombies, creepers and other un-dead stalkers that enjoyed to gobble up little children if they'd been misbehaving or didn't eat their vegetables. But over time, Kai's fairytale perspective of these monsters changed along with his age, mauled remains of Cluckers and pets were found by his home some mornings, rumours of savage deaths that occurred at night were being whispered by nearby townspeople. Kai decided he had to climb out of the hollow and move on quickly! He knew it was too far to head back to the remains of his old dwelling in hope of setting up camp for the night, no he only had one choice to go deeper in the woods and make for Rabantre quickly.

After climbing out of the hollowing and working out his bearings, Kai ran faster and faster through the forest, the straps of his backpack digging painfully into his shoulders due to the additional weight the wood provided. The sound of his shoes disturbing the dried grass were giving of a crunching sound beneath his feet, but that was not the only sound Kai could hear. The sound of running could be heard from the other side of the trees beside him. He dared not slow down to get a glimpse of what it was, he knew it was there and that it was getting closing towards him, he dared not risk it getting the chance of catching him.

Exhaustion and fatigue was already starting to affect Kai as the trees were continuing to keep coming showing little sign of an end to the forest or any rocky formation he could have used for sanctuary.

The sounds of the nearing footsteps were getting louder, closer and coming from a number of different locations, _I'm surrounded!_ He thought to himself. He braved a look back and caught a glimpse of spider like creatures approaching from behind the towering trees that he'd just past, he counted 5 in total, each one roughly the size of a hound, eyes as red as rubies and skin as dark as coal. The creatures gave of an all mighty high pitched shriek that painfully rang through Kai's ear drums that to him resembled the sound of grinding a sharpened fingernail against a blackboard, a common practice used by Kai's father to deter his son's attention from drifting away from his 'excavation studies'.

The thundering of the pursuing footsteps were getting ever closer and Kai's pace was starting to quickly diminish, he quickly noticed upcoming toppled tree trunks and rocks in his path and he began to hurdle over them. The darkness was making it increasingly more difficult to spot upcoming obstacles to jump over and avoid, whilst listening to the creatures behind him scurrying closer towards him, suddenly his jacket snagged a thick tree branch and he was swung to the left into a bush, his shoe caught on an exposed tree root and he tumbled down a grassy slope.

To Kai the fall was both painful and felt endless for a second he'd forgotten all about his pursuers hot on his tale and tried everything in his power to slow his uncontrollable descent down the dark slope. The sound of the shrieking grew fainter until all that could be heard was the sound of his shoes sliding down the dried grass and dirt. After what seemed to feel like minutes he was able to stabilise himself so he was no longer uselessly tumbling down the slope like a tumble weed, instead he was sliding down feeling the friction of the dirt burning against his lower back what was his backpack was unable to protect . The hill was too steep to stop and almost uncontrollable to affectively manoeuvre, all he could do was watch as he rapidly approached more descending hillside. Suddenly Kai could no longer see anymore hillside coming up, just an edge of an upcoming cliff and yet he still couldn't stop. Kai turned to one side and attempted to grab hold of anything he could use to anchor himself onto before he flew helplessly off the cliff towards the black void below, with little success of grabbing hold of anything to successfully stop him he slid off the edge.

Falling deeper towards the darkened abyss with nothing but the shadows surrounding him Kai and no sign of the ground he started to wonder to himself _was I dead?_ _Had I hit my head whilst falling? Is this world of emptiness the afterlife?_

The sudden impact into the freezing cold water had caught Kai totally off guard; he bobbed on the surface of the water like a piece of flotsam that had survived a brutal shipwreck. The darkness was still blinding him from seeing more than 15 feet ahead of him; he could barely make out the foot of the cliff he fell from.

Kai knew that regardless of surviving an almost deadly close call with a pack of hungry giant spiders and a massive vertical drop; swimming in a darkened lake was definitely not a good idea, in no way was it a haven for fending off more creatures of the night, aquatic or not. Kai figured his eye sight had started to slowly adapt to its surroundings and he was able to roughly make out the outline of a sandy beach and a rocky alcove upon its shore that he knew would make an ideal place to hold up, get dry and wait it out until the sun rises.

Kai considered himself in no way a veteran swimmer, in his schooling days he was taught a wide assortment of swimming techniques that relied upon the use of upper and lower body strength, submersion , wind direction etc, however Kai wasn't one for digesting useful and informative facts or even paying attention at that. So Kai decided he had no choice but to swim towards land in the only way he knew how by 'doggy paddling' every stroke of the way.

The shore was getting closer but Kai had for a few minutes had an uncomfortable feeling that he was again being watched, he knew from experience now that a feeling like that definitely doesn't mean stop and investigate, if anything he'd established that a feeling like that was grounds to speed up and get the hell out of there!

His arms and legs were pounding the water in a desperate bid to speed up and get to the shore sooner, his eyes opened even wider then he heard the familiar high pitched shrieks appearing from out of the darkness. Kai tilted his head back to try and locate the origin of the sounds only to spot the fiery eyes climbing down the darkened cliff wall; clearly his stalkers hadn't given up on the hunt just yet. Kai pushed himself forward, salty water splashing into his eyes and mouth, the beach was a minute or so away, his arms and legs exhausted but persevering and pushing him closer towards dry land. Behind him the sound of giant splashes ricocheted into ears as the spiders had decided to pound into the water after him. The number of spiders had greatly multiplied from the last time and panic was starting to affect his already flawed swimming technique. He'd finally grasped a handful of sand from the shore, rose to his feet and ran towards the alcove, whilst the dark figures were quickly homing in on him from the water. Almost tripping over the soaking laces on his shoes Kai raced towards the entrance of the alcove and jumped into the cave.

The cave was no bigger than a large wardrobe and after a quick check Kai could see no other ways in that the spiders could use to reach him. Kai quickly flung his soggy backpack onto the sandy floor and pulled out a few wooden blocks from within, remembering back to his Father's schooling about basic block building Kai quickly assembled a sturdy a barricade sealing him away from the horrors that were rapidly approaching from the outside. He quickly sat himself furthest away from the barricade, listening to the sounds of the spiders clawing at the makeshift barricade. Kai cuddled up to his backpack either for the little warmth it gave him or the minuscule sense of comfort it gave him, similar to that of how a teddy bear comforts a child.

Kai sat shaking uncontrollably out of shear fear or because he was freezing cold and soaked from head to toe, never before had he felt so alone. The sound of endless screeching and clawing were continuing to bounce amongst the confines of the small wardrobe sized cave. The spiders were far more persistent then he originally anticipated, their endless attempts at trying to burrow their way in was making Kai feeling increasingly more helplessness and begin to doubt that his barricade was strong enough to keep them at bay for much longer. Kai started to rock back and forth whilst staring solidly at wooden blocks vibrating amongst the rock, each vibration and slight movement the wooden blocks made the heavier is eyes felt. Every time Kai was about to give in and succumb to sleep the spiders would awaken him with an even louder barrage of screeches.


	3. Chapter 3: Primitive Fishing

**Chapter 3: Primitive Fishing  
**

Light was leaking in from the cracks of the makeshift barricade and illuminating the walls of the tiny cave, the distant sound of the waves from the ocean could be heard splashing up against the sand and rocks, no longer could the endless sound of spiders shrieking and trying to claw their way in be heard from within, it was morning.

Surprised at his ability to sleep through such a terrifying ruckus through the night as well as being uncomfortably cold and drenched from head to toe, Kai arose to his feet grabbing the rucksack while he went and took a second to examine his surroundings now that the cave was now considerably more brighter than last time he examined it. As he noticed during the night; the cave offered little in the way of space or comfort, having only one exit in and out and no windows to offer any additional light, he knew if he had his father's trusty pickaxe and the right resources he could expand it further and make a comfortable dwelling for himself, but alas he didn't.

Kai leaned towards the barricade peeking through the gaps of the blocks to catch a glimpse of a spider or perhaps one of their terrifying shrieks but couldn't hear and see anything except the empty beach. After repeatedly checking back and forth for any sign of danger that still awaited him outside, Kai decided that the coast was clear, literally. Kai leaned towards the sturdy barricade and began dismantle it piece by piece, amazed at the deep scratches and damage it sustained throughout the night and equally as surprised at how it still remained standing throughout till morning. Kai pulled down the last block and placed them back into his rucksack and headed out into the blinding sunlight, still dripping as he went.

Kai walked along the sand turning round occasionally as he went, not in search of any sign of the spiders but to take in the beautiful surroundings around him. The vast sea could be seen heading off endlessly towards the horizon and the sky was a symphony of blue, red, orange and yellow shades as the sun was trying to climb higher in the morning sky whilst the smell of salty water rushed into Kai's nostrils. After walking further along the shore and away from the cave the sudden sound of Kai's stomach grumbling for food had caught him by surprise and he realised he hadn't actually eaten anything since yesterday. Kai quickly lifted his backpack off his shoulders and rummaged into its back pocket only to find the half dozen eggs he collected the day before didn't survive the recent nights events and left a very unattractive mess at the bottom of the bag. "Just great" he said to himself sarcastically and lifted the bag upside down and watched the sludgy contents pour onto the sand "Im going to be smelling that for days now".

After about ten minutes of walking further down the beach and into the grassland all the while listening to his stomach grumble every fifteen seconds or so, Kai caught a glimpse of a trio of large plump Cerrel fishes swimming just beside a collection of large rocks beside a small stream that flowed no doubt back towards the ocean. Normally Kai would consider the prospect of catching fish to be a rather tedious and a time consuming activity with little reward or enjoyment to be won by it, however on this occasion each fish looked absolutely succulent and tender to feast upon. Quietly Kai dropped his bag upon the grass then slowly and carefully climbed onto the rock closest to the stream, all the while ensuring he didn't slip or scare away his dinner. Kai positioned himself steadily on his hands and knees and observed the fish swim among the shallow depths. Preferably in situations such as this Kai knew a fishing rod would prove most useful however as he didn't possess one he would have to make do using a much more primitive method of extraction. Kai thrust his arm into the water and quickly pulled it back out in hope of either grabbing or catapulting a passing fish out of the stream and onto the grass, however only to be rewarded with splashing himself in the face with the water instead.

"You do know you're not gonna catch anything like that" announced a soft wisecracking voice from behind him. Kai shot round to see a young slender girl with carmine coloured hair that descended down onto her shoulders standing before him. She was dressed in a stained un-cleaned white cotton tank top that bore a collection of tiny dollops of mud stains on its side, and a pair of equally dirty and torn brown shorts. Her boots appeared to be standard custom-fitted, military cadet boots, proud attire for any military senior or junior cadet, who took pride in maintaining their boots to the highest possible condition ensuring they undergo a strict regime of polishing and spit shining to ensure they maintained an immaculate condition. Kai looked down upon the girl's boots and noticed how scuffled and worn they were, with little to no sign of shine or polish left upon them from its days in the services, if she was the original owner of those once shining boots he thought to himself, she'd been through bad times. Kai turned back towards the stream as if she wasn't there and quietly replied "I don't recall asking you" in a slightly agitated and annoyed manner and then proceeded to thrash his hand in the water to grab a fish, again with little success.

"I don't mean to pry, but the fish are more likely to line up and laugh at you if you carry on like that" interrupted the girl again finishing with a cocky giggle.

'_Where's this lass get off telling me how to do things?' _thought Kai, who again proceeded to dive his hand in again in hope of snagging an unsuspecting fish from the shallow water, all the while attempting to ignore the frustrating girl standing behind him. Every attempt he made he got more and more agitated which resulted in him soaking his arm even more consequently splashing more and more water onto his face.

"You do know that if you-" began the girl.

"Listen! I don't need your help i'm doing perfectly fine by myself" snapped Kai, who'd quickly rose to his feet and spun round to face her, all the while trying to ignore the fact that water was dripping from both his nose and hair.

The girl clearly found the sight amusing as she seemed to show difficulty trying to hide her amused smile behind her gloved hand.

After a brief few seconds of trying to feebly stare her down he turned back around and knelt down upon the rock again facing the water ready to dunk his hand in again when suddenly a bolt flew straight past Kai's ear into the clear water without even making a single splash, and from the depths a large fish rose to the surface with an arrow impaled in its back like a flag.

For a few seconds Kai didn't bunch an inch and was still trying to come to terms with what had just happened, he just knelt in an uncomfortable position watching the other fish swim around their fallen comrade. After recovering from the shock of being inches away from getting shot in the back of his head as well as losing his pride to some cocky annoying lass he again slowly rose to his feet and turned back around towards her. The girl was no longer staring at Kai with an amused smirk on her face instead she now stood with one foot resting upon another rock whilst wiping clean a wooden bow with the bottom of her tank top.

"What do you think your playing at? You almost took my head off!" shouted Kai who was now adopting a much more serious and furious look about him and was obviously struggling to hold back from releasing a torrent of profanities and vulgar damnations at the wise cracking smart ass.

However the girl who appeared to be rapidly losing her patience with Kai had adopted a similar angry face of her own that showed little sign of the jokey upbeat attitude she had gave off seconds before. Both figures stood before each other in perfect silence, neither one making a sound to disturb the tension of the showdown and neither one breaking eye contact. What felt like minutes had past and still both individuals stood firm and dominant before each other and neither one giving any indication as to who would back down first.

Suddenly without breaking her hawk like stare from her opponent the red haired girl began to speak;

"Lets get one thing straight, if I wanted to kill you, I would have aimed at you and by simply looking at you, you wouldn't have put up much of a fight-"

"Wait just a minute!-"

"-I haven't finished" interrupted the girl in a quiet yet serious low voiced tone "now consider yourself lucky you ran into me, Creepers don't hesitate to blow up stuck up morons like you, especially ones who tread the Wilds without a sword and expect a fish to happily flop onto their laps".

"If I wanted your advice I would have-"

"Consider it a gift, along with your fishy friend over there, out here free advice and gifts are as rare as diamonds so be grateful".

Kai no longer thinking it was smart to interrupt the girl during her little lecture as well as continue to try and stare her down decided to put his head down and remain quiet whilst she continued her little rant. To Kai, this gal was extremely feisty and was obviously the sort of person to always have the last word in a debate and any feeble attempt at changing that would be folly.

When the girl appeared to have finished her long speech or at least take a breather Kai decided enough was enough, he knelt down picked up his backpack and shouldered past the girl leaving both his pride and the unlucky fish behind in his wake, whilst the girl looked back at him.

"Wait!" shouted the girl, from behind him yet he decided to simply ignore her and continue to walk further on, he'd rather not take another verbal beating today.

"Hey wait a second!" she shouted this time her tone of voice sounding less angry or dominating from before but more desperate and apologetic.

Kai heard the sound of quickening footsteps rushing up from behind him and the red haired girl appeared before him, no longer looking angry and serious, she quickly turned and began to walk backwards holding her arms out trying to block Kai from progressing further.

"Ok... sorry I didn't mean to come off rude I just figured you were new to these parts and could use the help, can we start over?" she said in a soft apologetic tone of voice.

Kai stopped still, and began to wonder to himself why she'd all of a sudden changed her personality. He began to cross his arms and try again at maintaining the quiet allusive stranger figure to the girl and perhaps salvage some of the pride she lectured out of him... but who was he kidding this dame could read him like an open book and it didn't do him any favours last time.

"What do you have in mind?" he grumbled under his breath.

"Your name would be a good start and where abouts your heading, my name is Allie" she replied in her original chirpy manner and began to wipe away the few strands of hair that had rested upon her cheek.

"My name's Kai, I'm heading towards Rabantre I got a little turned around last night and kind of lost my bearings-", instantly regretting his hasty answer Kai began to suspect that this Allie was starting to think he was not only gutless but incompetent too.

"I can tell" Allie replied trying not to hide the fact she was staring upon his soaking wet clothes then looked back at Kai's face with a big smile on her face.

"Then it's your lucky day Sweetie because I'm going there myself".

Kai instantly lifted one of his eye brows suspiciously and began to wonder why this sudden girl's change of personality was beginning increasingly bother him.

"What a coincidence" he said sarcastically under his breath whilst giving off a fake smile meanwhile Allie strolled past him back to where she left her gear... and the fish.


	4. Chapter 4: Two's a Crowd

**Chapter 4: Two's a Crowd**

2 hours had past and the sun had completely dried out all of Kai's clothes which to him was a welcoming relief as he no longer felt the uncomfortable feeling of his shirt sticking to his back or his shoes giving off a rather annoying squishing sound everytime he made a step, which Allie seemed to find rather amusing. The girl was surprisingly nimble and athletic for a girl who aside from her wise cracking retorts and constant mocking sense of humour at every little thing Kai did. 'She was quite attractive too' Kai thought to himself, her eyes were a beautiful shade of bluey green and she had a rather beautiful smile (when she kept her mouth shut that is) and more surprisingly she also had a rather cute, posh aristocratic accent that reminded Kai of how the characters in some of his Father's old books used to talk amongst one other.

Kai's pace was rapidly starting to diminish and was beginning to struggle keeping up with Allie, whom in the meantime was appearing to be fully enjoying herself: jumping over rocks, narrow ledges and other obstacles that she could find like a Block Toad, which Kai started to think was deliberately intentional just to tick him off further or quickly exhaust him out.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" cried Kai out loud towards Allie whilst struggling to catch his breath. Allie who was roughly 10 feet away and balancing upon a fallen tree trunk turned to look at him, whilst still with a cheeky grin on her face.

With a concerned and extremely worried expression on her face she cried out to him "No not really!"

Kai's mouth dropped and was about to drop his bag onto the grass.

"Kidding course I do" she quickly giggled seconds after and reverted back to her chirpy voice and facial expression as well as sticking her tongue out towards Kai, "we are roughly half a days trek towards Rabantre".

"Half a day?!" Kai shouted out aloud out in puzzlement "I was only an hour or so away, when I was in the woods yesterday!" he continued.

Again Allie started to giggle "Yes Kai, but was that before or after you decided to jump off an un-climbable cliff that happens to be roughly a half a day's trek back up it?".

Kai mumbled a number of unsavoury retorts back towards her (fortunately under his breath) and slowly proceeded further to try and catch up with her, trying to ignore the fact his stomach was crying out louder and louder for a single morsel of food.

* * *

Finally the outline of the town of Rabantre was visible on the horizon; Kai stared upon the distant town that stood out in the darkening distance. He felt a sense of relief, he was one step closer to finding out what happened to his parents, the origins of his adopted backpack and what exactly was the red powder was that was hidden within it.

A nearby voice awoke him from his thoughts; "Its getting dark Kai, we won't make it to the outer walls before sundown, I say we set up camp here and wait it out till morning" announced Allie who had dropped her small rucksack onto the grass. She still she showed little sign of exhaustion, hunger or fatigue unlike Kai who had been dragging his feet for the past two hours.

"Woo wait a minute!" he shouted towards her whilst still trying to regain his breath from the exhausting hike "The Creepers and Spiders... they'll pounce on us the second we close our eyes".

"Not if we take up proper precautions and set up a defensive perimeter" replied Allie who was busy knelt on the dirt rummaging through her pack pulling out a number of strange objects and placing them carefully upon the ground.

Curious and hoping to get a small glimpse of food, Kai slowly approached Allie, whilst taking close heed of the half dozen wooden poles she piled neatly upon the grass; each one cut down roughly to 30 centimetres in size and upon one end a torn material was tied upon it. Kai could tell from close observation the material was a sort of dried out linen that bore upon it a series of stitched patterns and drawings, to Kai it was obvious that the material was originally a piece of fine ladies clothing possibly a blouse or shirt. _'wow what sort of women tears up her own clothes' _thought Kai to himself.

Allie no longer tried to ignore the fact that Kai was standing over her whilst he uncomfortably stared down upon her, and decided to speak out to Kai all the whilst she kept her eyes and attention fixated on rummaging further through her pack.

"They called torches, the design is rather primitive now but they should still do the trick".

"The trick?" asked Kai with a puzzled expression on his face, who knelt down to examining one of the torches in his hand.

"A deterrent, it should keep away any unwanted visitors ruining our cosy little slumber party" she giggled "oh do me a favour Sweetie and position them in a large circle around us".

The lights of the Rabantre could been seen through the night sky in the distance, to Kai he considered it close enough to make a break for it and with a little luck he'd make it unhindered but Allie merely laughed off the idea.

"These will keep us safe?" asked Kai pointing towards the torches that surrounded them in a wide circle.

"Oh sweetie you really are simple aren't you" giggled Allie whilst setting up a makeshift spit using her sword above the camp fire, "Creepers and Hexells don't like fire or anything bright so consider us as safe as we can be without shelter, but don't blame me if we... you know... get eaten or anything".

Kai just sat there and shook his head "Is everything a joke to you?" he spoke under his breath.

"Yes can't you tell?" she replied whilst showing no indication that she was offended by his quip, "So what's a naïve block dweller doing leaving the comfort and safety of home to head for the big city?" who appeared genuinely curious and interested "It's hardly a walk in the field for someone unarmed and un-experienced like yourself" she added.

"I've already told you before, I can handle myself fine thank you" snapped Kai with an annoyed expression on his face and arms crossed.

"Oh really haha? It didn't look like you were _handling yourself_ very well against that pack of Hexells last night" giggled Allie.

"I have you know I knew exactly what... wait a minute, how do you know about that?" He cried out as he shot up to his feet with a confused and angry expression on his face, whilst Allie remained seating looking up at him.

"Oh sweet and simple Kai it's my business to know everything that happens around these parts especially watching a simple guy playing tag with a pack of Hexells".

"You saw me!"

"Got it in one. You're getting quick." laughed Allie who was busy un-tying her dirty stained boots.

"Enough with the jokes!" shouted Kai kicking away a few pebbles that lay beside his feet.

Allie pulled off both boots and leant her back upon a large rock whilst she rested her arms behind her head, closed her eyes and gave off a massive sigh, an obvious indication that the conversation was starting to get a little boring. Kai still remained standing staring down upon her with a face that was becoming redder by the second.

"Who do you think lured the Hexells away whilst you were busy crapping yourself in a cave?" cried Allie who was still kept her eyes closed.

For a few seconds Kai could hear the imaginary wheels in his head begin to turn as he slowly started to work it out.

"You did" he muttered under his breath in a sad embarrassed tone of voice.

"That's right" she giggled "I guess that makes me your guardian angel and you of course owe me one".

Kai sighed to himself and fell back down to where he was originally sitting and sat quietly slouched on the grass, now feeling as if any remnants of pride had disappeared totally.

Half an hour later and the moon had risen to the top of the sky, Allie sat up, stretching her neck and looked towards the rucksack that lay beside Kai's feet and her eyes turned to slits examining it from a far "Thats a pretty nice bag" she said to Kai "present from your parents or a friend?"

"Maybe... what's it to you " he snapped.

Kai couldn't help notice Allie's interest at his rucksack, her eyes were constantly fixated upon it, especially when she thought his back was turned. It was starting to make sense to Kai '_the witty comebacks, survival skills, and interest in wanting to join me_, _she's a bandit'_ he thought to himself. He must give Allie credit, if she was a bandit and from what Kai had heard of the reputation of bandits they would sooner stab you in the back if there was a slight whiff of valuables nearby, but Allie has had every opportunity to run him through, yet he still drew a breath. _'She must be after something else' _he thought to himself as he secretly watched Allie reach over to tend to her weapons and equipment.

Whilst Allie was busy sharpening the flint arrow heads on her bolts whilst humming to herself, Kai slowly pulled a long thin thread that had been dangling from the inside of his jacket and pulled the rucksack closer towards him. He quietly tied the cotton thread to both the inside roof of the rucksack and its base, so should an unsuspecting person open his rucksack it will sever the thread and indicate that someone's been through his stuff. After carefully ensuring that the thread was secure and that Allie never spotted him, he carefully laid the rucksack back on the ground and lied on the floor in hope of falling asleep.

"You want me to tuck you in sweetie" giggled Allie who then decided to keep quiet and be on guard for the remainder of the night, whilst she continued to tend to her weapons and watch the flames of the torches dance in the darkness.


	5. Chapter 5: Tiny Pips in the Big Orange

**Chapter 5: Tiny Pips in the Big Orange**

Kai awoke to the overly pungent and foul smell of fresh Okan Broth that was invading his senses, turning his head slightly he found a small wooden bowl filled to the rim with rather unattractive smelling brown sludge left beside his head. No doubt Allie's poor excuse of a delicious breakfast or one of her annoying practical jokes, Kai thought to himself whilst sitting himself up and adapting his eyes to the bright gleam of the morning's sunlight.

The familiar voice behind him called out to him "Eat up while it's warm, your stomach was roaring like a Pigman last night and kept me awake". Allie was standing up adjust her gear and no doubt preparing to move out, "I figured I should feed you before we head out to the Big Orange, after all you would only whine if I didn't".

On normal circumstances Okan Broth; a rather nasty concoction made from harvested Okan flowers, tree bark and water mixed together to make a sludgy mess would be the last thing Kai would ever consider eating. However after days of having next to no food, aside from an occasional bush berry he was lucky enough to find, the unsightly look and smell of a bowl of Okan Broth was enough to make Kai's mouth water.

Whilst Allie was busy washing up the cooking bowl and securely tethering the mixing utensils onto her rucksack, Kai gulped down the dregs of his breakfast bowl all the while trying to ignore the sudden urge to hurl at the awful taste that slipped down his throat and silently dragged his rucksack over towards him with his feet. Carefully putting down the bowl onto the grass, all the while ensuring he didn't grab Allie's attention he quietly picked up his bag and examined it. As he predicted the thread was snapped and confirmed his suspicions of the wiley female, she had been snooping in his stuff whilst he'd been a sleep. After quickly examining through his bag and finding nothing out of place or missing, he closed it up, flung it over his shoulder, reached for the dirty bowl and rose to his feet.

"Was it all you hoped for?" Allie asked whilst tying up her boot.

"Yeah, I guess, what did you have?" asked Kai trying to fight back the urge to throw the dirty bowl at her and demand to know why she'd been snooping in his bag.

"Roast Clucker, they are quite native around these parts, roasted it up on the spit, yum quite tasty actually" giggled Allie sarcastically.

Kai almost reaching his breaking point, shot her a venomous stare and grumbled to her "You didn't think of offering me some?"

"I would have sweetie but you looked oh so peaceful when you were sleeping so I made you one of my famous delicacies instead" giggled Allie with a big chirpy grin on her face. She finished tending to the black laces on her boots and rose to her full height and walked towards him.

"Such a lucky dweller" she said whilst lightly pinching him on the cheek and walking over to her weapons, all the while Kai's face grew redder and he was clearly having trouble keeping his mouth resolute.

* * *

It took 2 hours to reach the main gates of the City of Rabantre and neither Kai nor Allie saw hide or hair of a single stray Hexell or Creeper from the night before, which to Kai was a massive relief as he knew any attempt of running away would be futile and give Allie cause to show off and rescue him.

Both Allie and Kai walked through the massive entrance into the City of Rabantre. Bewildered and blinded in awe at the two massive sturdy wooden gates that towered above him, Kai stood still and began to understand perfectly well how the wondrous City had remained protected and impervious to Creeper attacks for so long.

Surrounding the City was a mighty outer wall erected so high that no army of savages or creatures of the night could hope to traverse upon it, built from bright vermilion coloured bricks it ascended to an astonishing height that anything in or out of the City could look upon its bright orange stature.

Kai recalled an old memory of what his father once told him, about how the bright orange walls of Rabantre could be seen from miles away and be used as a beacon to direct wandering Dwellers to the safety and security of the City and that was how it became to be known as the _Big Orange_.

Shaking off the memory of his past and shoving back into the archives of his mind; Kai pushed on forward into the City, muttering under his breath "Well I guess if there are any answers to be found. Here is where I'll find them".

Everywhere Kai focused his eyes upon; the streets were littered with street merchants, criers, minstrels and other Rabantian residents all getting on with their chaotic everyday lives. Kai was beginning to wonder how so many people could happily dwell together in one place and not feel so cramped together.

The streets of Rabantre were paved in a vast blanket of shiny cobblestone that from its appearance looked as if it was laid down centuries ago and shone beautifully in the sunlight. The buildings that surrounded both Kai and Allie could be seen scattered in all directions, ranging both in a variety of different shapes and sizes, some made from a clay brick, cobblestone or even wood, which Kai figured was subtle indication of the homeowner's financial situation.

Proceeding further into the City, Kai continued to grow ever more amazed at how vast and impressive the City of Rabantre was from what he remembered from the last time he visited with his father. Allie however didn't seem overly amazed and astounded by her surroundings unlike Kai, her eyes were fixed straight ahead and not admiring the scenery, she merely slalomed in and out of anyone that got in her way and from what Kai could make out was apparently fully aware of where she was going, thinking to himself 'She must be a regular'.

Eventually the two both headed down into a narrow street that was overshadowed by large clay buildings at either side and in front of them sat a line of merchants trying to entice would-be shoppers into approaching and buying one of their limited assortments of fruits or wears. Each merchant was using a number of different methods or styles ranging from boisterous shouts to jumping up and down in hope of grabbing their customer's attention and ultimately lure them into making an expensive purchase or two. To Kai's surprise and utter amazement they were actually pulling it off and attracting a large crowd of Rabantians towards them, each one of them appearing to be all too eager to part with their spare ingots and subsequently causing massive congestion within the narrow street in the process.

Kai attempted to slalom around the people within the crowd, apologising profusely every time he bumped into someone, regardless if it was his fault or not.

"You need to be more assertive" giggled Allie, whilst looking back towards Kai with a smirk on her face, all the while Kai was busy brushing himself off after roughly the twenty-th collision with a Rabantian.

"I prefer to be more civil and diplomatic you know, it doesn't get you anywhere being a loud mouth" he retorted hoping Allie would get the picture and shut her trap, only to be knocked onto his behind yet again by this time a rather obese looking women.

"Ha ha how's that working out for you?" she laughed whilst waiting for Kai to pick himself up and catch up with her. "Sweetie the world you're used to doesn't exist here, _please_ and _thank you_ won't get you anywhere. This place is Dog eat Clucker out here and if you don't toughen up and get used to it you'll find yourself in a world of pain" lectured Allie towards Kai whilst putting an unwelcomed arm around his shoulder and making teacher like hand gestures in front of him.

"I get that but..." began Kai.

"MOVE IT!" shouted Allie all of a sudden that made both Kai and the rest of the nearby Rabantians jump back and out of her way.

Realised she had accomplished what she had intended from her little outburst she slowly turned her head back towards a shocked and rather frightened looking Kai and throw him a cheeky wink, "assertiveness 1, civil 0" she giggled and proceeded on through the now clear path with Kai slowly following in tow.

"What a psycho" he muttered quietly to himself trying to ignore the ever annoying sound of Allie's giggling echoing around in his ears.

The two entered a wide open area that was devoid of any towering buildings; instead in the centre laid a large decorative glossy stone fountain that a small handful of young children were happily jumping in and out of, paddling and dunking their feet in, all the whilst laughing out loud at the mere sight of the ripples they made on the surface.

Both Kai and Allie walked towards the fountain looking around at the large number of wooden stalls and people congregating around them in the open area, 'must be the town centre' Kai thought to himself whilst trying not to be too distracted by the smell of Roasted Clucker and succulent tender pig ribs cooking on a nearby stall.

Banners of assorted colours, shapes and sizes could be seen dangling throughout the area, some decoratively hung between side of the walls of the neighbouring buildings that surrounded the town centre or some dangling from torch posts, each one mentioning in blood red lettering about an upcoming _Festival of Night_.

"Festival of Night?" Kai spoke out loud towards Allie, only to quickly have to jump out of the way of another speeding Rabantian who was busy pushing his cart only to notice immediately that his evasive manoeuvre had put him in the way of yet another apparently short sighted Rabantian racing with his food cart.

Allie raised her voice so Kai could hear it over the noise of the crowd.

"A tournament that takes place every two years, the city releases a horde of 'Night Walkers' around the streets and those who think they can take them on set out to destroy them"

"What of the populace?" Kai asked out loud, with a puzzled look upon his face all the while slaloming through a group of Rabantians who didn't seem to notice he was there.

"Watching from a distance" responded Allie, apparently oblivious to Kai's constant need to jump from one spot to another, " They stay out of harm's way and wager ingots on who lives, dies or kills the most. Quite vile if you ask me".

"I agree with you on that one" Kai responded brushing off his jacket whilst standing safely beside a weapons stall and noticing one of the town's folk sitting on a discarded ale barrel sharpening his gold sword and smirking with an malicious grin on his face.

Allie stopped and sat on the side of the fountain, gesturing towards Kai to do the same. Kai secretly considered this a welcoming relief from the non-stop walking and traversing endlessly through woodlands to busy City Streets.

Allie lowered her voice to a whisper;

"Kai I know I said i'd get you here and I did" waving her hand out towards the rest of the town centre "but I think it would be in everyone's best interests if we stayed together".

Kai looking a little confused and said in a sarcastic manner

"What? So you can rummage through my stuff again, give you time to decide what you can pilfer from me next time"

Allie looking shocked and somewhat lost for words shuffled along closer towards him and quietly whispered

"Ah you saw me did ya, I thought you were asleep"

"Occupational hazard for a Sneak Thief like you I'm sure" replied Kai loudly into her face, not caring that he was making a scene in front of the playing children that were loitering behind them in the fountain.

"I didn't steal from you!" she responded looking away from him, but Kai knew she was obviously getting increasingly more aggressive and embarrassed by the accusations.

Kai leaned closer towards her, bringing his mouth closer towards Allie's ears so they were almost touching and whispered into them with a threatening voice

"Then what business do you have to go through my stuff".

Seconds past and Allie remained silent; not making any sign or acknowledgment that she was going to respond to Kai's question she merely lowered her head towards the ground and sat in silence. Kai lifted himself up from the cold stone fountain rim, picked up his rucksack from the damp floor and turned back towards her.

"I'm grateful for your help, really I am, but if you can't be honest with me then this is how it's going end".

Again Allie remained silent, she neither looked up towards Kai or made any sound of acknowledgement. Kai realising that persisting with the questioning would be folly and noticing the soaking children within the foundation had taken an interest in the conversation; he turned and walked towards the streets that led out of the town centre.

A few steps in the narrow side street Kai began to feel a little guilty at how harsh he had been towards Allie and began contemplating going back and giving a brief apology, when suddenly he was painfully rammed into the narrow street wall. Feeling the uncomfortably cold touch of the clay brick pushed towards his face and fear started to flood in he recognised a familiar but extremely angry voice from behind him.

"You want answers kid!" shouted Allie who quickly spun him round and again pushed him forcefully up against the brick wall this time pinning him uncomfortably tight on both of his shoulders.

She continued "Like what that red powder is in that bag ... of _yours_? Then I can probably enlighten you on that, but let's get one thing straight, I'm no Sneak Thief!"

"Then why were you in my bag?" he asked trying to push himself away from the wall with very little success and only getting pushed harder back upon it.

Gripping deeper into Kai's shoulders Allie's voice seemed to have reached a whole new level of infuriation and anger.

"Firstly that is **NOT** your bag and secondly that's **MY** business and if you want me to shed some light on that stuff you carrying, then you better stop with the questions and start getting used to me and wise up, do you understand?"

Allie let go of Kai's shoulders and allowed him to freely move away from the wall. Kai began to dust himself off and straighten his jacket all the while keeping his eyes fixed on Allie.

"I don't have a choice do I?" he asked, perfectly aware what the answer would be.

"Not really" she fired back almost immediately as if she predicted he was going to ask that.

"So what do we do now?" Sulked Kai and coming to terms with the fact that Allie had nominated herself in charge.

"Well I don't know about you sweetie" she replied now in her sarcastic and chirpy manner "but I'm starved and could do with a strong drink too, if you're a good boy I'll buy you a glass of squash"

'Finally, getting somewhere' thought Kai trying to hide back a smile at the thought of eating a delicious freshly cooked meal and getting one step closer to finding out about his parent's death.


	6. Chapter 6: Skeletons in the Closet

**Chapter 6: Skeletons in the Closet**

The two companions had traversed through the busy streets of the City for what seemed to Kai as hours, until eventually Allie stopped outside a small tavern nested between two larger brick buildings at either side. From the outside the tavern looked rather pleasant and welcoming, but a seemed a little out of place beside its towering neighbours. Outside of the Tavern lie a beautiful bed of yellow and red Sprite flowers that rewarded guests with an enticing sweet aroma when they walked by. The sound of chatting and the faint sound of a playing jukebox could be heard leaking from the closed front door and windows of the small building. Looking beyond the garden, Kai's eyes caught the sight of the large front door in the centre of the little building. There was no doubt at one time the door was perhaps a work of art; beautifully hand painted emerald green wood, shiny iron handle, two rectangular panes of glass windows at its centre. Now it only displayed remnants of its former beauty, with flakes of paint dangling precariously off the wood, dents and scratches etched deeply into the grain, the windows no longer transparent and clouded with grime and the handle deprived off its shine.

Looking up towards the top right of the doorway Kai noticed a small wooden sign bolted to the wall, painted upon the wooden plank in carefully written black letters was the words _The Shallow Pocket Tavern._

Approaching the front door of the tavern; Allie reached a hold of the unpolished iron handle that hung upon it and sharply pulled it down. Followed with a heavy ram from her shoulder and with little concern for the noise or damage that would result out of such a forceful action; the solid door flew open, releasing a barrage of sounds that was moments before effectively muffled by the door.

To Kai it would have seemed that Allie's rather carefree and abrupt entrance did little to sway or distract the drunken patron's attentions from either their clay tankards or their loud conversations with one another, as the two tourists marched towards the bar.

Eyeballing a vacant shabby looking leather hide stool beside the bar, Kai quickly hopped onto it, similar in fashion to that of an eager child grabbing the last seat before another child took it and stared towards the chalk menu behind the bar. Allie who seemly less eager to advertise the fact that she wasn't a total wimp and needed to sit down, leaned upon the bar and signalled over the scruffy looking barman with a subtle and silent nod of her head.

"Two Solona Ale's... in clean glasses" ordered Allie in a serious and rather intimidating tone towards the hairy apron wearing barman.

"Anything else" retorted the barman who looked unfazed by the stranger's apparent un-friendly attitude towards him.

"Today would be nice" she snapped back, quickly giving off a little smirk to herself when the barman walked off to pour the beverages.

"...actually a pot of Willa Pretzels would be nice" cried out Kai from behind Allie who now seemed a little embarrassed and less like an intimidating strangers from out of town.

After hopelessly failing at trying to reclaim her dominance and respect over the barman, Allie started to drink away at her ale, all the while angrily staring at Kai who seemed all to happy picking away at the bowl of Pretzels she bought for him and was savouring the taste of each one he dropped in his mouth.

"Well I never thought i'd see your worthless hide around a civilised society again Allie" cried out a rough male voice from behind them. Allie slowly put down the clay tumbler onto the bar and turned round to look upon the person who spoke to her. From what Kai could tell Allie obviously recognised the unattractive figure that stood before her, in Kai's opinion the gentleman was hardly forgettable anyway thanks to the large scar that protruded on the side of his ugly face, obese stature and food stained vest.

"Just here for a drink Rolo, not looking for trouble" responded Allie who appeared to give as little eye contact as possible to the man, before turning back towards the bar.

The man snatched the tumbler violently off the bar before Allie could pick it up and poured out the contents, watching with a smirk as the orange coloured ale flowed like a waterfall onto the wooden floor and splashing onto Allie's boots.

"Trouble just happens to find you wherever you go doesn't it girl" he sniggered as he threw the empty tumbler at Allie's chest, watching it bounce off and leave little orange droplets of ale on her tank top.

Kai looked around the tavern, realising that the atmosphere had quietened significantly and all the bunters had taken had interest in what was going on with Allie and Rolo and slowly started to gather around them.

"This isn't the time or the place to get into it." Allie spoke with a slightly angrier yet worried tone, which Kai found to be quite surprising, as Allie hasn't before shone any indication that she was scared about anything.

"I think it is" he grumbled under his breath and move in closer towards her.

"If you want to fight, you gonna have to take it outside!" interrupted the barman behind the bar which a gruff voice who clenched an upside down bottle of Brandy in his hand and appeared to be ready to club anyone who made the first move.

"You should be used to_ leaving_ by now shouldn't you girl" sniggered Rolo who quickly grabbed a hold of Allie's collar and yet the barman didn't make his move.

"Friend of yours?" whispered Kai who leant forward on his bar stool to speak into Allie's ear, who quickly looked at him with an 'are you a complete idiot?' expression on her face.

Allie looked back towards the snarling man who held in her place and watched as his right hand turned into a clenched fist and lift itself back, ready to deliver an undoubtedly painful blow. Allie helplessly closed her eyes to receive the punch when suddenly the sound of a mighty crash and little objects bouncing off her face disturbed her.

Kai stood up from his stool and walked over the unconscious drooling man that was flat out on the wooden floor and began to brush off the shards of pottery and pretzels that clung to his jacket after he smashed the pretzel bowl over Rolo's head.

Noticing the barman approaching from behind the bar Kai soon quickly realised that this time was as good as any to leave. He quickly grabbed Allie by her shaking hand and dragged her towards the tavern main door.

"Move it!" he shouted watching as the drunken punters parted ways for him and Allie to get through 'wow that really works' he thought to himself with a child like grin on his face.

"What happened to your no nonsense violent approach?" whispered Kai with a smirk on his face towards Allie.

"What happened to your bumbling simple approach? retorted Allie trying to hide the fact that she was panicking.

The two quickly walked through the Tavern's main door and all that could be heard from within the now silent Tavern was Kai's voice getting fainter and fainter: "you do know you owe me a bowl of pretzels".

* * *

Kai ran through the darkened back streets behind the tavern, still tightly holding onto Allie's shaking hand, all the while Allie who now seemed drained of any remnants of stamina she once had and was un-objectively being quickly towed behind him.

Still shaking from both the rush of excitement after smashing a vicious looking man over the head with a bowl of pretzels and dragging a helpless damsel away from the clutches of danger, Kai decided that there was no sign of them being followed and decided to stop and catch his breath. Noticing a number of discarded crates littered around the alley, Kai dragged the rucksack off his shoulders, rested it beside the wall and sat upon the largest of the crates, all the while keeping a watchful eye on his companion.

Allie who still seemed badly shook up from the confrontation in the Tavern finally dragged her eyes away from the cobblestone pavement and walked over to join Kai.

"I take it he wasn't a close friend" joked Kai who seemed all too eager to break the silence and fire off a sarcastic comment at her for once.

"It's none of your business" Allie responded under her breath, again fixing her eyes upon the ground before her.

"Don't give me that, that guy was all set to break every bone in your body, what did you do to him?"

Allie lifted her hands up to cover her face, in a feeble attempt to block out the incoming questions and hide her emotional face "I don't want to talk about it", she muffled in her hands.

"_Used to leaving by now?_ What did he mean by that?, Allie if we are to be companions we need to start to talk to each, what did you do to him to warrant him approaching you like that"

Allie sat motionless and made no sign of answering him.

"What did you..." began Kai again.

"I killed them, ok!" she cried out to him, dropping her hands to her side and slamming her fist onto a nearby crate. Kai looked both shocked and confused at the young lady beside him, who no longer appeared as if she was the hardened survivalist that he thought he knew, instead all that remained was a quivering and emotional wreck.

Kai knew better to interrupt Allie at the best of times, but whilst Allie was in a state of emotional despair it would definitely be a foolish move to make, so he remained silent and waited for Allie to explain what she meant by that puzzling confession.

After seconds of silence Allie began to explain "I was of the Valkarien Guard, junior member of the high council of the town of Valkaria and head of advanced 'Piston Technology Research'".

"It was a dark time, the town was losing more and more people every night; to fend off the endless onslaught of Creeper attacks, food and supplies were running shorter by the day".

Allie wiped the tears from her eyes with her soiled tank top and took a small sip of water from a leather flask she concealed in her bag.

"My partner and I discovered a revolutionary new component 'Redstone' we called it. It had so much promise and had the potential to achieve wonders that could only be dreamt of. Imagine Kai, the power to control a current by the simple pull of a switch, to produce light without fire, to remotely fire weapons without a single person being near it or in harm's way."

Kai nodded in agreement, clearly amazed that such wonders can easily be achieved by a single mineral, but even more amazingly Allie was apparently some sort of book worm who discovered it.

"What happened?" he asked whilst snatching the flask from Allie and gulping down a single shot.

"The council at first were hesitant and deemed Redstone to be too advanced, dangerous and unpredictable to fully approve and implement into the town. But after months of persuading I was given permission to use it, under the condition I delivered advanced Redstone weaponry and defences for the town. Which I gladly did of course, I set up a number of arrow dispensers and other defensive weaponry around the town that would activate and fire upon a stray Creeper if it was in the vicinity."

Allie leaned back against the brick wall and let the tears freely drop down her face on to her top and continued on, whilst Kai looked on, contemplating if he should tell her to stop, but his overall curiosity telling him to let her continue.

"Night came, the Creepers arose from the hills towards the town and as initially planned the defences held them at bay, the sound of dispensers firing and the sound of the townspeople cheering echoed among the streets, it was fantastic."

Allie went quiet for a few seconds, snatched back her flask and took another zip.

"But something went wrong, horribly wrong. One of the Redstone circuits must have been setup wrong and instead of directing the current to one of the devices it was directed to one of the town's explosive caches in the southern quadrant.

The explosion could be seen and heard from all over the town, blanketing the area in dust, the entire southern defensive wall was destroyed, half of the guards, townsfolk, even the children that were in the area were killed. It didn't take long for the Creepers to breech the town".

Allie snivelled her nose and tried to wipe the tears from her eyes, to little avail as they kept coming, Kai could tell this memory had been haunting her for a very long time.

"Did they all die"? Kai asked trying to sound sympathetic.

"No, it took all night and nearly three quarters of the guards had been killed, but we were able to repel the attack until daylight. For my crimes of proposing the use of dangerous technology, miscalculating the Redstone circuit and costing the lives of hundreds of innocents I was exiled".

"And your partner?" asked Kai quietly.

"He choose to stay, it was my proposal to use Redstone, my overall incompetence that caused the deaths of those people not his. I lost my town, my life and my love in the space of one night and all I got in return was the guilt of massacring hundreds of innocent people. Allie cried.

"It wasn't your fault Allie" announced Kai who leant over to her and rested his hand upon her shoulder.

Suddenly Allie rose up from the crate, knocking Kai's arm off and looked back down towards him. "Tell that to the people who died!" and she turned away and left.


	7. Chapter 7: The Hangover

**Chapter 7: The Hangover **

The next morning the boisterous sound of the neighbouring townsfolk shuffling about nearby invaded Kai's peaceful sleep. Intent not on letting the noisy surroundings disturb him further; Kai blindly reached for his rucksack and dragged it over to where he lay and thrust it forcefully onto his head to muffle out the noise.

The rays of light began to peek in through the gaps of the rucksack forcing Kai to close his eyes further to shut out the blinding light of the morning sun and allow himself to slip back into his nocturnal haven, when suddenly he felt a sharp peck repeatedly tap upon on his hand. Giving into the constant stream of noises and interruptions, Kai lifted the rucksack off his head and focused his eyes to find himself lying in a dark, filthy and secluded looking back alley that was littered in discarded wooden barrels and blocks as far as his eyes could see. A flock of Cluckers were plodding around where he laid pecking at anything that caught their tiny black eyes, no doubt the wily culprits who deemed it necessary to further distract him from continuing his slumber by furiously pecking at his hand.

Kai rose to his feet, carefully stabilizing his footing and trying to ignore the headache that was pounding profusely around in his head. His mind devoid of any memory as to why he found himself sleeping out on the street, along with the reason as to why he felt so painfully rough and most of all whereabouts Allie had disappeared off to after her little confession the night before.

Trying to block out the overpowering, blinding beam of sunlight that shone down into the alley, Kai began to walk towards the familiar sound of the hectic city life that to him didn't seem to quieten regardless of the time of day.

Remnants of memories from the night before were slowly starting to seep back into his mind the more he walked further from one street to another searching for his partner. He could recall voyaging off to another tavern that caught his eye when he first arrived, sampling a few tankards of Ender Mead that an attractive blonde bar girl (who he recalled had a soft spot for tourists) and more then happy to treating him to a few on the house before he scurried out a little worst for where.

Rubbing away the crusty sleep from his bloodshot eyes, in the back of his mind he began to again wonder what had become of Allie, sure the last he remember she was awfully emotional after her little discussion about her shady past and took off into the night faster than a Hexell in pursuit. Suddenly Kai's thoughts were interrupted yet again by a powerful deep voice that originated by a large muscle built woman with greasy tied back hair standing behind a small fruit and vegetable stall like a golem, unlike the stall which appeared as if a single light gust of wind would make it crumble to pieces;

"Get your last minute supplies for the slaughter! closing early get em while you can!"

The woman continued to repeat the same sentence over and over, in an increasingly annoying chorus that seemed to aggravate Kai's pounding headache further and making it awfully tempting for him to just approach the stall and give her a piece of his mind. Only to be quickly put off and think better of the idea by the larger she got the closer he approached the stall.

Instead Kai decided a little food wouldn't go amiss, walking slowly talking towards the stall Kai began to theatrically rummage through his pockets for any spare change, in hope of the woman taking pity on the puny boy and giving him something for free.

After repeatedly searching through each pocket three times and neither one attempt successfully opening up the large woman to a sense of righteous charity, Kai dropped his hands to his side and focused his eyes upon a juicy red apple that lay precariously on the edge of the stall, its plump succulent exterior began to make his mouth water. The small red orb was within arm's reach away,

'Its disappearance wouldn't be noticed, after all it's only a little apple, it wouldn't be missed' Kai thought to himself whilst trying to discretely lick his lips and not grab the stall attendances attention.

Kai began to lift up his hands towards the side of the stall in a fashion that was very similar to that of a coiled Block Snake about to strike a would be unsuspecting field mouse, when his conscience rebelled in his mind; 'So this is where it all comes down to; petty sneak thieving from market stalls for scraps of food, this is a new low'. Shaking away the unwelcome council from his mind Kai focused his attention back at the task in hand, he leant towards the stall and reached for the apple... however his concentration was disturbed yet again, not by the little voice in his head this time but a familiar deep voice that gave him an immediate chill throughout his body.

Kai lowered his head towards the stall and tried to hide himself from full view from the source of the voice which he was yet to locate. Trying not to seem too much like the type of shady character that would usually reside around market stalls and steal anything they could whilst an unsuspecting merchant had their back turned, Kai started to move his attention towards the other delicacies on the stall. Kai lowered his head down and continued to closely observe the stalls contents all the while keeping a watchful eye out for the source of the voice. Seconds had past and Kai had picked up and started to examine a ripe and succulent Kobo Fruit meanwhile further aggravating the stall keeper when all of a sudden he spotted the man who's voice he instantly recognised, a couple of stalls down, conversing with an equally ugly associate.

The man was as distinctive and memorable as he was the night before, the scar that protruded down the side of the face shone out in the sunlight and his scruffy facial hair was still littered with the remnants of food stains he saw the night before, there was no doubt in Kai's mind this was the same grotesque man who hassled Allie in the bar, Rolo.

For a split second he had to give the guy credit, Allie was hardly the 'soft, girlie' type she was a seasoned warrior who would happily stab first and consider asking questions later, definitely not the sort of character to be trifled with, that fish she caught was a perfect example of that.

The reality of the situation hit Kai like a tonne of bricks, first Allie's confrontation, now her disappearance and now this walking lard ball was in the area, 'this was little more than coincidence' Kai thought to himself.

To the relief of the monitoring stall keeper; Kai placed the Kobo Fruit back on the pile and slowly moved towards the two men all the while keeping his eyes focused on the stalls he passed, until he had his back to the two men and was close enough to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Yeah dealt with" sniggered the unfamiliar skinny man.

"And the boy?" Asked Rolo who was scowling at the shoppers who passed him by.

"Wasn't with her"

"No matter, he's not on the bounty anyway, that was just a little payback" he said whilst rubbing a small bump on his head "No hiccups?"

"Not a hitch, but I still don't see why we don't waste the girl now and claim the bounty" continued the thin man who was looking behind for anyone that was appeared to be following him.

"Because it's more fun this way and i'm the one who make the decisions around here!" replied Rolo poking hard at the man's chest. "Besides you worry too, she won't make it through the night, she'll just be another unfortunate casualty of the festival".

Kai slowly crept closer towards the two lowlifes, all the while ensuring he kept his head down and out of sight whilst he soaked up as much of the conversation as he could make out, when suddenly he almost jumped out of skin when the burly red haired man behind the stall shouted out towards him;

"Are you gonna buy something or not!?"

Flustered Kai, ignored the abrupt man and quickly turned away from the stall, not checking to see if he had caught the unwelcome attention of the two men nearby, Kai power walked away from the collection of stalls and headed away into one of the side streets, all the while the sudden adoption of fear and adrenaline pushing him to increase his pace to a hasty run.

Minutes had passed and Kai had advanced further into the city, about a half dozen streets from where he stumbled upon Rolo and his slimy looking assailant. Gasping for air and repeatedly turning his head round to catch a glimpse of anyone following him, he recalled the partial conversation he overheard about their discussion about abducting some helpless female and throwing her in the festival.

"Serves her right" he suddenly spoke out loud to himself, taking little consideration of the Rabantians walking nearby; who seemed more than a little confused by his random outcry.

"Stupid little fool's attitude has got her in trouble again... well good luck and good riddance" and crossed his arms in an attempt to convince himself that didn't at all care.

Kai continued slowly walking further along the street, not exactly sure as to where he was going and why he was actually walking in that direction, when suddenly reality had struck him like a cold winter's breeze and he stopped dead in his tracks. Kai's conscience began to slowly creep into his infuriated and uncaring mind and fight back with a torrent of doubt and concerns.

'But she's in trouble' he thought to himself 'she needs your help, you can't leave her, she's still just a girl'.

Kai shook off his thoughts and glanced around to examine his surroundings in a poor attempt of distracting himself from the guilt that was rapidly rearing its ugly head.

Seconds had passed and Kai continued on, still lost as to exactly where he was going and trying everything in his power to erase the memory of Allie from his mind, after all what use had she been to him anyway, he thought to himself. She claimed to be able to shed light on his parent's demise but never actually divulged anything to further his investigation and get some answers.

Walking further on Kai was re-awoken from his thoughts by a shout originating from nearby, a smartly dressed crier stood in a darkened corner waving sheets of papers in both hands like a fan and trying to attract over would be shoppers;

"Festival Listings! Get ya list of combatants here!"

Kai again try to shun away the loud distractions of the street and return back to his chain of thought when again the outbursts from the Crier continued to invade his concentration.

"We got Alexis the tumbler, Kez the destroyer and Pablow the hasty, and some of the toughest hombres in the Big Orange to tackle the nastiest of monsters the city's got to offer".

Kai again stopped in his tracks and slowly turned his head back around to gaze upon the Crier who was busying himself trying to win over a young couple's attention (who walked a little too close to him) with betting slips and overly friendly greetings.

'I guess I could ask him, it wouldn't hurt' Kai thought to himself trying to put his mind at rest, 'after all if she's listed then i'm sure she can handle herself and if she isn't... well I guess she's busy sulking or annoying some other poor sap somewhere else'.

Kai walked back towards the Crier who immediately appeared excited at the prospect of luring in another curious punter, like a spider catching a fly in his web.

"Hey fella, got ya listings and betting slips right here, fancy putting a little side wager on the Festival... avoid all that gambling taxation and make some easy ingots, if you get my drift", said the shifty looking Crier whilst waving a paper slip under Kai's nose.

"Not interested" snapped Kai who quickly slapped away the Criers wayward hand "I want information".

"Information in this side of the Orange can prove... expensive".

"How expensive?".

"Very expensive" smirked the Crier.

Kai was again about to sink his hands back into his pockets in search of money he knew he didn't have, when he thought better of it and looked back upon the Crier and gave off an equally sly looking smirk.

"Shame... just a wealthy associate of mine wants to know if his kid has entered the Festival, quite attached you see, likes to bet high on his kids" explained Kai in a business-like manner.

"Wealthy you say? Would this wealthy individual reward yours truly for divulging such information and give him exclusive betting rights, if they in?"

"I guarantee it, but the name has gotta be there or no deal!"

"Sure, what's the name?" cried out the Crier who began to quickly rummage through the betting slips for the combatants listing for fear of losing this amazing business opportunity if he took too long.

"Female by the name of Allie, red hair, slim build, annoying personality and laugh" explained Kai who was busy trying not to giggle and fighting hard to maintain a serious expression on his face all the while the Crier began to scower desperately for the name.

After ten minutes of continuous searching the Crier sulked off , kicking discarded debris in his wake and clearly appearing as if he had lost out on a massive fortune, all the whilst Kai continued further on in the opposite direction, still hosting a smirk on his face and somewhat relieved that Allie's name was not on that list.


	8. Chapter 8: Justified Thieving

**Chapter 8: Justified Thieving**

The streets were littered with excited Rabantian's running around stocking up with crates and supplies and preparing for the Festival by securely barricading their homes shut from the outside, Kai couldn't help but be astonished at how enthusiastic everyone seemed whilst hammering thick planks of timber across their windows and doors.

Miles of walking aimlessly deeper into the City and Kai's mind was still plagued with violent images and visions of Allie helpless, thrust into a murderous warzone and calling out to him. Like a sixth sense Kai knew something bad had happened to Allie and no attempt of trying to block it would quell the guilt. Sure enough he thought Allie was overly annoying and erratic, show off, know-it-all who seemed to take pleasure in frustrating Kai any chance she got. But the night before had given him an insight into a totally alien side to Allie, underneath the hardened veteran exterior was a fragile and emotional young woman.

It didn't take Kai long to realise where his feet had taken him, the second the Crier had divulged all the information he had on the Festival, including where a person goes to sign up to enter, his body had already ventured off to do just that regardless if Kai realised it or not.

Kai looked upon the large building that stood before him, its appearance was significantly more extravagant and eye catching then the rest of the neighbouring properties beside it. Erect and serious looking, made from polished stone and cobblestone, the building gave off an aura of extreme importance to all the area, Kai figured when not being used to sell tickets for annual festivities it hosted perhaps more serious pivotal roles like council sessions and court hearings.

Kai's gaze was fixed in awe at the phenomenally large queue of people lined up at the base of the building, quiet and unfaltering; the single file army of people were patiently waiting for their turn to get into a small cream door sign posted as being the 'Ticket Office'. From what Kai could make out the line stretched out all the way back to the end of the street and he was more than happy to bet the shirt on his back that it extended further onto along the next street.

To Kai it seemed that the Festival held more than a strong sense of popularity around the populace, looking around his eyes caught sight of fanatics holding painted signs supporting their favourite combatants, mimicking duels with one another using sticks and marking their faces with painted symbols and runes.

Eager to just march on into the Office building and demand to see Allie Kai knew any hasty theatrics like that would no doubt make a scene and be a total fruitless waste of energy, time and could subsequently cause more trouble than it's worth. Besides from what Kai had already been told by the money hungry Crier; no one fitting Allie's name, description and overall annoying personality had been admitted to the Festival, so the chances of the Official Signup Office knowing any better was unlikely. From Kai's opinion of Rolo and his scum bag companion, it was unlikely that if they did play a hand in Allie's sudden disappearance and admission into the Festival, it would be extremely unlikely they would waste their time and money declaring it _officially _anyway.

Kai had only one option if he was to ensure Allie survived the Festival in one piece... not so much her annoying blabbering mouth, he'd have to sign up himself.

Noticing a small wooden red door in front of him marked _combatant signup_ which to no surprise didn't seem to attract a queue or even a single person in that matter, unlike its neighbouring cream door. Kai decided to ignore the fact it was so unpopular and head towards it, only to be stopped in his tracks by the large wooden sign bolted to the left hand side of the doorway:

_**Combatant Admission Notice**_

_**Admission Fee (Required): 1 Gold Ingot **_

_**Armour and Weapon Rental (Optional): 1 Gold Ingot**_

_**Funeral & Body Disposal (Required): 1 Gold Ingot**_

_**Next of Kin Contact Service (Optional): 2 Gold Ingots**_

_**The City and Council of Rabantre will not be held accountable for the unfortunate and accidental event of injuries or loss of life resulting from admission into the Festival. All admissions are consented by the Combatants prior to the Festival and done of their own free will. **_

_**Good Luck & Have Fun**_

Kai again began to shuffle desperately into his pockets in hope of finding a wayward ingot that may have escaped his attention before, and like before all he found in the palms of his hand were specs of lint and grains of dirt, not of anything that would constitute suitable value to barter his way into the Festival.

Thirty minutes had passed and Kai had been walking backwards and forwards throughout the crowd of excited Rabantians; going over methods of how to earn a single gold ingot and like thirty minutes before was no step closer to picking one. Kai knew two days of non-stop manual labour in the mines or lumber yards would earn him a few silver ingots or if he's lucky a single gold ingot, but he didn't have the luxury of a few days to waste pick axing ore or chopping wood, the festival would begin in a few hours and Allie would be as good as dead.

If Kai hadn't already knew the likelihood of pleading like a beggar for a single gold ingot from a wealthy passerby and actually receiving it being so unlikely that it would be more likely to stumble across a diamond in his own pocket he would have perhaps attempted it. Instead Kai rested his back against a building wall and began to stare aimlessly at the endless line of people queuing to get into the ticket office, imagining in a few hours time each one of them will watching an innocent girl falling prey to the horrors that awaited her in the Festival and he couldn't do anything about it.

Suddenly a figure obstructed his view, blocking out the line of people and knocked him out of his trance. The figure was of a man wealthy in appearance; donned in fancy looking bright dyed red animal pelt attire and he walked in a manner which flared wealth to anyone around him, the man stood out like a flare in the darkness. No doubt a stupidly rich aristocrat with more money than sense Kai thought to himself, but his disgust at how a person can look so over the top was put to one side when his eyes suddenly caught gaze of a small leather pouch hanging loosely on the wealthy looking gentleman's trouser belt and moving every time he made a step like a pendulum.

To Kai the small leather pouch lit up before his eyes like a miracle straight from the Heavens, but most of all it was the answer to his problem. Sure enough Kai had a deep prejudice against sneak thieves and wrong doers who deemed it necessary to rob an honest man of his hard earnings to line their greedy pockets, but on this one occasion it just seemed right. After all, Kai figured he was doing the owner a favour and educating him further on the evils of city life and how a person can be more vigilant in the future when their purse is left hanging precariously by their side for all to see.

Kai slowly moved away from the wall and began to quietly approach the wealthy looking man, all the while keeping mindful of his surroundings and carefully ensuring that he wasn't being watched or better still leaving himself open to falling victim to a quick apprehension by a passing guard. Satisfied that the coast was clear and the pouch was ripe for the picking; Kai snuck up quietly behind the wealthy looking man and slowly lifted his hands towards the gentleman's belt. Kai was mere inches away from his fingertips touching the string fastenings when suddenly he was knocked viciously onto the hard cobblestone pavement and he watched as the dark figure responsible who showed no sign of acknowledgement ran off into the busy crowd of Rabantians. Refraining from crying out a volley of curses at the fleeing assailant for fear of alerting the wealthy gentleman to his presence, instead he quickly rose to his feet, dusted himself off and returned his attention back to the prey before him... only to realise the pouch was gone.

Shock and confusion began to flood into Kai's head as he looked back upon the belt that only a few seconds before had held the chunky leather pouch. Before he would allow any sign of despair from taking over him, he shot his head round in the direction in which the fleeing figure had took and caught sight of the hooded culprit that had knocked him to the ground disappearing into the sea of busy Rabantians.

Without a seconds thought to think about what he was actually doing; Kai shot out after the hooded figure, intent on not allowing the dirty sneak thief the opportunity or satisfaction of escaping with the stolen prize he himself was going to steal. Looking through the gaps of people that blocked his way he could barely make out the small hooded figure ahead of him, rushing throughout the crowd and carefully slaloming around out each obstacle that got in its way, all the whilst showing little indication of slowing down or stopping for a rest.

The crowd became increasingly denser by the second and Kai's attempts of replicating the culprits slaloming technique was becoming ever more difficult to pull off without losing his footing or colliding head first into an innocent passerby, he knew any hopes of catching up with the perpetrator would be lost if he continued at this rate.

Noticing a large stack of wooden crates resting beside one of the small buildings; no doubt containers of supplies for the upcoming festivities, Kai raced towards them, jumping upon each one and using them like a set of stairs to reach the roof of the building.

Upon reaching the summit of the building, Kai again glanced down in the direction of where he last spotted the hooded perpetrator and spotted the thief further down the street heading towards the entrance of the city square. Again taking little heed of the consequences that continuing the pursuit and risk tumbling head first off the building would be, Kai bolted across the rooftop in the same direction of the thief, jumping from one rooftop to another and quickly progressing further towards the hooded figure down below. Without so much as a stray bird or box to avoid, unlike the thief who was at a disadvantage and constantly having to swivel in and out of the crowds avoiding oncoming obstacles, Kai's confidence was starting to build as he was beginning to get the upper hand and was almost parallel with the figure down on the street below.

Finally the street came to an end and the thief bolted out of the alley and into the city centre that now appeared significantly quieter and empty then the day before. Noticing that the rooftops had come to a dead end, Kai jumped off the edge of the building and landed uncomfortably onto his feet with the thief a few meters ahead. Trying to ignore the pain that began to shoot around his leg and trying not to slow down thanks to his newly acquired limp; Kai pressed on in pursuit of the thief, who seemed oblivious to the fact that a person was following from behind. Nearing the centre of the square, the thief began to slow down to turn round, when suddenly Kai snatched the thief by the arm and swung the culprit quickly and violently in the direction of the fountain that was rested in the centre of the square. With a mighty splash that echoed around the quiet area, the thief tripped backwards over the lip of the fountain and plunged into the water filled pooled.

Kai stood before the now soaking wet hooded figure that sat waist high in the fountain basin and showered upon by a stream of water that poured from the mouth of the ornamental stone fish that stood erect in the middle of the fountain. Kai leaned over the rim of the fountain and lowered his hand in a gesture to offer assistance with helping the soaking wet thief climb out of the pool. A minute or so had passed and the thief sat dripping upon the side of the fountain whilst Kai stood ready to pounce if he felt lucky enough to make a break for it.

The thief pulled back the hood to reveal an agitated, nervous looking girl, who seemed no older then Kai looking up at him, her soaking wet coco brown hair stuck to the front of her face and her nose was spilling drops of water from her plunge onto her already damp clothes.

"What'd you think your doing!? Don't you see i'm working here?" cried out the girl who began to pull back the wet hairs that stuck to her freckled face.

"Spare me the lip! Hand over the pouch" Kai retorted, trying to ignore the fact that she looked so innocent and a little bit cute and tried to remember she was nothing more than the dregs of society, a criminal weaned on the life of sneak thieving.

"Why should I?"

Kai quickly snatched hold of the girls soaking wet elbow and began to firmly grip hold, after all a little discomfort and encouragement wouldn't hurt, he needed the money to save Allie.

"It's not yours, now hand it over!"

"It's not yours EITHER!" argued the feisty young woman who attempted to pry off Kai's vice like grip from her elbow.

"...Well I spotted it before you, so cough it up" he whispered to her in a threatening manner so to not grab the attention of a passing group of Rabantians that appeared nearby.

The girl waited for the group of people to walk further away and out of ear shot then continued;

"I assume you're from the Guild aren't you? Just another one of those mindless thugs who thinks it's okay to bully honest freelance thieves like me and steal our hard worked decent scores from us.

"Bah there's nothing honest with what you do and don't assume I'm in league with you lowlife types, I just happen to have a genuine reason to commandeer that guy's ingots".

"Don't try sugar coating it, genuine reason or not, it's still stealing and that makes you no better than me" the girl retorted with a smirk on her face as she began to ring out the water from her long hair after giving up trying to pry off Kai's hand from her elbow.

The comment struck Kai like a dagger to the heart, the girl had a point, before today he would have made a similar argument that she made, stealing for whatever reason good or bad was still stealing, it didn't make it any less unlawful. Kai released his grip from the girls elbow and took a step back and glanced down at the hand he used to hold her.

The young woman rose to her feet quickly rubbing her elbow and then continued to wipe away any excess water from her jacket, when suddenly Kai reached into her jacket, snatched the pouch he spotted seconds before and pushed her backwards into the fountain again.

Whilst the young lady coughed and getting to grips with what just happened, Kai untied the pouch and empted its contents into the palm of his hand. From the handful of miniature ingots that he held, he placed two in his jacket pocket and turned back to the fountain. The girl had recovered her footing and stood slouched within the shallow pool looking both emotional and pathetic, with one hand holding onto to the side of the ornamental stone fish; looked straight at Kai. Not entirely sure if it was the excess water from her second dip or that the girl had been crying her eyes appeared bloodshot and ready to release a flood of tears.

"I'm only borrowing what I need thief, that's what makes me better than your kind" Kai spoke out to her and threw the remaining ingots into the pool with her and he quickly turned his back towards her and walked away.


	9. Chapter 9: Suicidal Valour

**Chapter 9: Suicidal Valour**

Kai's mind was flooded with thoughts and doubt about what had recently transpired minutes before, he had been raised to hate and distance himself from the likes of thieves for their unlawful ways of life that symbolised nothing more than the darkest path a person could take. However Kai couldn't ignore the fact that the young pickpocket had a point, had his ill perception and overall prejudice against those who steal been wrongly branded into his mind, had his Father been wrong to cloud his mind into thinking all who steal are evil and should be purged from society. Kai began to recall what the young crook was trying to explain to him; that not all thieves are criminals out to line their pockets, but people too whom are affected by circumstances out of their control or have no other option but to walk the rocky path of theft to merely survive the day, he himself was a perfect example.

Walking further in the direction of the sign-up office he glanced down at the two shining miniature ingots that sat in his hands and his thoughts again began to wonder back to what he said to the thief; had he blatantly lied to her when he swore he was merely borrowing what he had stolen? did he even have any intention on seeking out the wealthy Rabantian to return what he stole or was he just kidding himself?

Pushing away the unanswered questions back into his head, Kai looked around to find he had returned back to the large signup office building, the queue that protruded into the small cream door on the right still remained as long as it did the last time he feasted his eyes upon it. Kai approached the neighbouring door on the left; as before it didn't have a single would-be combatant waiting outside of it and he pushed the door open and walked in.

The sound of the boisterous ruckus from the outside queue faded slightly when the door shut behind him and Kai was surprisingly shocked to discover soft classic music echoing around the spacious looking lobby. The walls were tiled in black stone and stencilled upon a number of them in gold was diamond like shapes that maintained the serious and wealthy look and feel about the place. In addition a number of small alcoves were embedded deep into the walls that illuminated a series of decoratively placed ornamental trophies and medallions. Upon the floor of the lobby sat a luxurious hand woven crimson dyed woollen carpet that absorbed every footstep he made like placing bare feet on soft sand, to Kai the mere sight of the lobby was a real indication that the owner had more than a few ingots floating around the place then sense.

To Kai's right was the source of the massive queue that protruded to streets outside guessing from the rather impatient looking Rabantians that stood within in it, yet surprisingly unlike the people outside they remained silent. At the front of the queue and what appeared to be the overall heart of all the commotion sat a slim looking man in spectacles sitting nervously behind a polished desk that appeared as if it was twice the size of him. To Kai the man appeared intent on not giving into the stress and remained focused on quickly addressing each Rabantian in turn and regardless of looking somewhat nervous seemed ready to shout out in the hope of quelling any arguments that would more than likely surface.

Kai turned his head in the direction of the desk that sat before him, above and behind the desk mounted perfectly straight on the wall was a golden framed portrait of a Creeper battling an armour clad warrior and behind the desk sat a rather obese looking man who from first impression didn't give up much in the way of warm and friendly service as he appeared focused solely on the adult orientated magazine that lay before him.

Without so much as a glance up at Kai, the man still burning his eyes into the pictures on the magazine spoke out towards him in a grumbled manner:

"What do you want?"

Looking upon the dirty looking man behind the desk and trying not to be totally distracted by either the drool on his chin or the stains inked on his shirt;

"I want in on the festival" declared Kai in a determined and proud approach that made him feel ten times larger than he was.

Realising this conversation was grounds for making eye contact and tearing himself away from the magazine, the man looked up towards the boy that stood before him and instantly gave off a sigh.

"Tickets can be bought over there" the man said pointing towards the neighbouring queue.

"As a combatant you big oaf"

"YOU! A combatant, you gotta be kidding ha ha... you wouldn't last 5 minutes" the man said with a laugh whilst leaning back on his chair.

"I didn't ask for your opinion Porky! Just sign me up!" shouted Kai now increasingly more agitated with the man.

"Signing up requires you to fill out the following form and a minimum two gold ingot charge to cover admission and funeral costs, would you like armour and weaponry rental... actually I'll throw that one in free, after all it would be wrong of me to charge you as the chances are we won't have anything your size or light enough for you to carry anyway" continued to chuckle the man.

Kai again tried not to appear too shocked by the whole paying for his own funeral in advance and trying to fight the urge to not punch the man at the desk in the face, he slammed the ingots on the desk and began to fill out the form. After seconds of filling out the form and trying to shut out the man's clear amusement by his admission into the Festival, Kai was pointed in the direction of the armoury and he left the man to continue ruffling through the pages of the battered magazine upon his desk.

* * *

Kai looked up at amazement at the wide variety of weapons and tools that hung decoratively upon the walls of the small room, never before had he seen so many sharp and dangerous objects situated in one place before. Axes, hammers, swords, pickaxes, scythes, quarterstaffs and bow were all neatly hooked in place,each one free from grime and dirt.

"Hang on" muttered Kai under his breath, tearing himself away from a golden axe that he began to caress with his hands, an object hidden away in far corner of the room he spotted in the corner of his eye. The weapon he feasted his eyes upon unlike its neighbouring armaments possessed no shiny gleam, nor did it possess a brand new look about it, the weapon appeared to have seen battle and adopted scars to reflect so; the arrow rest appeared to have been chiselled and smoothed down for rapid firing of arrows or bolts of different shapes and sizes, the cow hide leather grip was aged and worn down to give off a flush feel when held no doubt a result from years of service. The quiver rested beside it, made from a finely tanned animal hide and threaded with a silver lace to keep its shape, it looked both proud and perfectly designed for securely housing the all too familiar arrows within it. Resting his hands upon them both; Kai recognised the pair instantly, they had seen battle before and felled many creatures of the night, there was no question about that... they were Allie's after all.

* * *

Clad in thick layers of heavy iron from head to toe and feeling foolishly like a turtle nested within its shell, Kai stood neatly in a row of twenty or so other fellow combatants standing in the darkened city streets looking up at the hundreds of spectators securely nested awaited in towering observation shelters. Kai felt neither comfortable nor safe in his rented armour, according to the bemused Quartermaster that fitted him with the chunky armour; each section was finely moulded by expert Smithies so would endure any amount of abuse its wearer may encounter, Kai was most definitely not convinced. Feeling like the overall weight of his armour would knock him down with the lightest gust of wind, Kai's body began to tremble.

Suddenly a roar of cheers erupted from the wooden stands that held the hundreds of eager spectators, a finely dressed man entered into Kai's view and made his way to the front of the central stand that towered higher than its neighbouring stands. The man approached stood behind a torch lit stone pedestal and raised his arms high into the night sky. No doubt some noble or sponsor responsible for this bloody event Kai thought to himself all the while trying not to tilt his head too much for fear of losing his footing and crashing to the ground.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this year's Festival of Blood, as per usual the combatants with the most kills is the victor and is rewarded the 3000 gold ingot prize along with being pronounced Rabantre's Champion!"

The crowd immediately burst into a chorus of cheers and whistles that lasted for a minute or so.

"Each combatant has bravely signed themselves up to do battle with the horrors of the night and has the opportunity to show their worth, I ask you all to wish them luck and die with honour"

Again the crowd broke out into a barrage of cheers and whistles all the whilst Kai stood looking up in horror with his mouth wide open, seeming as if he was the only individual in the whole city who grasped the last part of the man's speech.

Suddenly a distant horn broke through the chants of the crowd and released an almighty cry that seemed to have further energised both the crowd and the rest of the combatants. The Festival had begun and the rest of the fighters that stood beside Kai scattered in all directions like cockroaches around a lit torch.

Kai without so much as contemplating his next stage in his plan, snatched up the rusty sword that lay sheathed by his side and ran into one of the nearby narrow unlit side streets. Kai began looking backwards and forwards in hope of catching a glance of Allie hidden within, with little success of spotting her or another fellow combatant or whatever fowl creatures that are supposedly roaming the streets.

Kai traversed further into the dark labyrinth-like streets and deeper into the bowels of the city, suddenly he caught sight of a figure consumed in shadow and hidden deep within a dark recess of a building wall. Kai slowly made his approach towards the figure; his approach did nothing to lift the black shroud from whatever sat in the darkness.

"Allie?" he called out towards the shadow whilst squinting his eye's in hope of trying to make out the black outline hidden within the recess.

" It's Kai, I'm here to help" he continued.

Kai slowly let both his quiver and bow drop from his shoulders and lay them softly to the ground trying not to make any fast movements that would spook her. Kai realising he had his sword drawn; slowly rested it back into its sheath and continued onwards towards the dark recess.

Kai reached the small hole in the building and knelt down towards the dark entrance, "Allie?" he called out quietly into the darkness.

Suddenly a creature leaped from out of the hole; clad in a torn cloth and skin that was coloured a dark shade of malachite wrestled Kai to the ground. Restricted by his layers of metal armour Kai was unable to push the creature off from above him and rise to his feet. The creatures began to savagely scratch at Kai's unpolished chest plate hoping to break through the hardened shell. Kai suddenly remembering the weapon that lay dormant by his side, slammed the creature across the side of the head with the iron vambrace tired to his arm and knocked the creature off from on top of him. Whilst the creature recovered and began to make another approach, Kai took his chance and pulled free the blade from its sheath and thrust it forcefully into the abdomen of the creature, twisting it when it could sink no further. The creature cried out in pain, yet it continued to reach out towards Kai, hoping to overcome its prey and tare it to shreds, after what seemed like a minutes; the creature fell to the ground devoid of life and Kai pulled out the sword from the dead lump and rose to his feet.

Kai stared down at the dead thrall-like creature that lay lifeless upon the damp cobblestone floor; its eyes opened and seemed devoid of any degree of sanity or harmony, a perfect representation of rage and savagery, born to kill and now nothing more than fodder awaiting slaughter in the name of entertainment. Kai couldn't work out who were the evillest of species; these creatures with their lust for killing or the people behind this barbaric festival; who would allow people to risk their lives to slaughter these creatures for mere amusement. Despite the creature's craving for destroying anything it could find, even when its own life is draining away like sand in an hour glass, Kai couldn't help but feel a sense of guilt and pity for being the one responsible for ending a pathetic life that probably knew no better.

Kai was no killer, he was not trained to happily slaughter anyone despite their evil intentions, he was a farmer raised solely to sow wheat seeds, tend to Cluckers and chop wood till day break. Kai began to wonder whilst focusing his eyes upon the lifeless body of the dead creature; did killing a creature that was hell bent on destroying him make him any better than the creature itself? Kai looked upon the metal sword that sat comfortably in his hand, staring upon the reflection of himself through the emerald green blood that coated the blade, "what have I become" he asked himself quietly.

The sound of the boisterous audience no doubt cheering at someone or something's demise, awoke him from his trance.

The distant light coming from a torch in a neighbouring street was suddenly blocked from view that caught Kai's attention. Quickly picking up Allie's bow and quiver and replacing them back upon his shoulders, Kai looked back over to where the light once shone and now blocking it from view, stood another of the murderous creatures standing beside the body of a fellow combatant.

"I don't want to fight" Kai called out towards it whilst holding his blade out in front of it.

The creature began to slowly stagger towards Kai's direction.

"Please don't do this, I don't want to hurt you"

The creature ignored Kai's pleas and began to hasten his pace towards him.

Kai began to realise that such evil, devoid of any hint of goodness couldn't be reasoned with and failing to do 'what is necessary' would most definitely cost him his life and perhaps many others that would cross its path.

The monster ran towards him arms raised ready to claim its next victim, when Kai firmly gripped the leather handle of the sword and with both hands quickly cleaved downwards upon the creature from head to toe.

Regardless of not being as elegant or precise in comparison to Allie's polished swordsmanship techniques; Kai felt his effort was more than effective given the circumstances. The sound of another creature hastily making a killing approach towards Kai was quickly felled with a single swipe to the chest and left squirming on the cold cobblestone floor. Kai finished the creature with another swipe of his blade, separating its heads from its neck, whilst the audience went wild at witnessing such a show of blood thirsty gore. Looking round and watching fellow combatants jabbing away at the shadows in the darkness, Kai was yet to see any sign of Allie anywhere amidst the skirmish.

Suddenly the ground beneath Kai's feet began to shake rapidly and he quickly turned to see more than four of the hellish creatures storm through the crowd of combatants that stood in their way and headed straight for him in a flight of destruction. Without so much as catching his breath or looking towards the direction he was running towards, Kai bolted off away from his pursuers, watching helplessly as the heavy sword fell from his sweaty grasp and fall behind, to be later trampled on by the approaching horde of fowl beasts.

Getting increasingly more tired and weighed down thanks to the over cumbersome armour he was wearing, Kai began to decrease his pace and lose his will to carry on, all the while listening to the sound of the crowd cheering in excitement at his impending death. Looking one more time back at his blood thirsty followers; Kai blindly collided straight into a hardened brick wall. Wiping away the blood that began to slowly trickle from his nose, Kai noticed that he'd foolishly led himself into a dead end with no way to go and oncoming monsters hot on his trail. Kai began to panic as he watched the distant dark figures of his pursuers getting closer towards him. Suddenly in the corner of his eye Kai noticed a sturdy looking ladder bolted securely onto the brick wall of the a nearby building, without so much as considering looking for any other alternative plan of surviving the next couple of seconds without getting torn to shreds or falling to his death; Kai quickly bolted towards the ladder and began a hurried ascent up it. With Allie's bow and quiver hung over his shoulder, Kai began to quickly climb up the rungs of the ladder and getting increasingly more frustrated at how much of a burden and unmanoeuvrable his rented armour had been to be. Half way up the ladder Kai heard the ghoul like creatures reaching the base of the ladder and savagely pulling and yanking at the bottom rungs. Kai firmly locked his grip as best he could onto the wooden rung and peered down at the creatures directly below him, hopelessly clawing at the base of the ladder to reach him. Continuing on up the ladder, Kai climbed over the ledge of the roof top and fell to the floor of the tiled roof, dropping the bow and quiver to the floor and finally allowing himself a second to catch his breath back. Kai lied down on the hardened surface and looked up at the sparkling moonlit sky and began to slowly regret his foolish decision to enter this barbaric tournament, and doubt him ever having a change of ever saving Allie.

Kai's thoughts of self pity were rudely interrupted by the sound of smashing glass coming from the other side of the foot of the building somewhere in the dark alley. Kai slowly rose to his feet, unstrapped the heavy iron greaves, gauntlets, vambraces, spaulders and chest plate from his clothing and let them noisily drop to the ground. Kai quickly picked up the discarded bow and quiver from the floor and approached the ledge of the rooftop listening to the repeated sound of shattering glass and the smashing of boxes getting louder and louder.

Kai's heart raced when his eyes focused on the familiar figure down below in the alley. Allie was bound and gagged, her hands tied securely behind her back and crawling backwards up a hill of shattered barrels and boxes trying to kick and fend off a smaller stunted version of one of the creatures. Without so much as remembering his disdain for heights as well as the creatures that lay in wait for him at the other side of the building, Kai now free of his heavy attire swung his legs over the ledge and jumped from the roof to the darkened alley below.

The landing was as painful as he'd expected from an unplanned and foolhardy act as jumping of a building to save a friend, feeling like every bone in his legs were shattered in the impact, Kai felt unable to arise or even move.

Allie continued to slowly drag her herself away from the creature, its claws reaching out to grab a hold of her bare feet. Suddenly she could no longer move herself away, her back banged up firmly against the side of a building, hindering her from any hope of continuing her feeble attempt of delaying her impending death. The creature stalked forward its eyes filled with blood thirsty rage, all Allie could do was close her eyes and let it happen.

The scream was agonising and deafening to listen to, Allie opened her eyes to see the stunted creature writhing in agony clawing at the long familiar arrow embedded deep within its back and standing behind it was an all too familiar silhouette of the man she wouldn't have dreamt of seeing ever again.


	10. Chapter 10: The Archer's Apprentice

**Chapter 10:** **The Archer's Apprentice**

Kai as fast as his throbbing legs would allow hastily limped over to his fallen comrade and began to untie the secure bonds that were cutting deep into her still shaking wrists. When her bloodied and friction burnt wrists broke free from the agonising torment of the rope, she pushed Kai forcefully away and yanked the dirty cloth free from out of her mouth.

Allie's tank top and shorts appeared even filthier and tattered then Kai remembered. Beaten and bruised, her former shell of determination and prowess no longer radiated from her body; instead what remained was a broken shell a mere shadow of her former self. Additionally Kai noticed that she no longer possessed her once worshipped, weathered scout boots instead she sat bare footed on the damp stone pavement.

Her hair lay knotted and messed up, painted in flakes of crusted mud; totally dormant of any degree of style that Kai figured she occasionally would put a little effort in maintaining, solely to remind herself that she was still a woman after all. Her wrists were red raw from the rope bonds and upon her right arm was a deep cut crusted in dried blood.

"What are you doing her?!" she shouted; her face full of rage and confusion, trying to speak over the sound of the neighbouring skirmishes and the crowds cheering at all the commotion around them.

"Getting you out of here, what do you think I'm doing here?" he responded returning an equally puzzled and confused look back at her, whilst altogether trying to hide the fact that he felt totally unappreciated.

"I didn't need your help, I had everything perfectly under control!"

Kai looked in bewilderment at her, unconvinced that her previous statement had any hint of truth behind it, whilst watching as she slowly rose to her feet and began dusting herself off.

"Hardly, from where I was standing, that creature was all over you like a rash." he snapped back, quickly spinning round to not give her the pleasure of seeing him all worked up.

Pretending to ignore Kai's last statement; Allie ran her left hand through her dirty hair, looked back round towards the back of her frustrated companion and carefully rested her muddied left hand lightly onto his shoulder.

"You shouldn't have come here, you could have got yourself killed" she said in a soft concerned voice that seemed both apologetic and truthful.

Was that concern he was starting to sense from her hidden deep under that hard stuck up exterior? some remnants of emotion that he never would have suspected Allie would possess,Kai began to wonder to himself. He slowly turned back round towards her and glancing down at her hand resting softly onto him.

"Thank you though" she said suddenly, giving him a warm, non-sarcastic, yet surprisingly passionate smile back towards him.

"I couldn't have left you" he responded looking directly into her eyes.

Appearing somewhat taken back by Kai's apparently unexpected response she quickly turned her head away; severing their fixed eye contact and slowly lowered her right hand and carefully extracted the bow from Kai's grip.

Kai watched as Allie reached back to shoulder her prodigal bow. Suddenly her expression was overcome in agony, dropping the bow down onto the pavement and she began to fall forward after it. Kai quickly moved forward ignoring the sudden urge to scream in agony at the pain shooting through his legs and caught her in mid fall.

"Are you ok?" he asked looking upon her in concern.

"Just a little worst for wear I guess, just give me a few minutes and I'll be back on top form. But I think _she's_ better in your hands... looking at the circumstances" she said tapping her fallen bow with her toes.

Kai wasn't convinced that Allie would be in anyway 'top form' after a few minutes or the fact that her bow would be better in his hands either, but he didn't feel it was the right to time to argue about it.

"So what do we do now?"he asked shouldering the bow onto his back and keeping his eyes fixed upon Allie.

Allie slowly rose up straight again, smiling at him with the cheeky, cocky grin he could recall seeing the first day he met her.

"Some gallant rescue Kai, you're telling me you didn't have an escape plan all thought out?"

"I guess I didn't think that far ahead" he responded returning the sarcastic grin back at her, "so how about you give me the benefit of the doubt".

Allie began to wander on forward through the darkened alley carefully watching where she walked avoiding the dark puddles and sharp debris that littered the pavement. Kai followed slowly behind like a stubborn child following his parents.

"If I'm right we should be two clicks from the Milling District" she called back toward Kai whilst surveying the surroundings both above and around her.

"So?... Is that good?".

"If we stay here its relatively open, too many adjoined alleys when we get out of this dead end and too many side streets that pose too many threats. If I recall the Milling District has some pretty high platforms there which if we could climb up should offer us a suitable degree of protection from any incoming Varnes".

"Varnes? You mean those creatures?" he called out towards her with a sense of fear and dread disguised in his voice.

"Yeah nasty things, they only come out at night, with a hunger for killing anything that moves. However daylight does tend to kill them, so I propose we get there, get up high and wait it out till dawn; when the Festival ends".

Suddenly the sound of a familiar moan echoed from the midst of the pitch black entrance of the alley before them.

Kai instinctively reached for the leather sheath that hung on his belt only to quickly remember it was empty and devoid of the sword it once held. Fear and panic started to flood into Kai's thoughts as the dark figure of the creature slowly approached from the blackened abyss ahead of him.

"The bow... use it!" cried Allie who ran quickly behind him and began to painfully attempt to pry off a sharpened wooden plank from a broken barrel carcass that lay discarded by a building's front door.

Suddenly realising what Allie was referring to, Kai dropped the bow from his shoulder and quickly snatched an arrow from the leather quiver that hung loosely on his now shaking back.

Kai watched as the Varne's gaze became fixed upon him and stalked ever closer towards them. He quickly fixed the sharpened arrow upon the tight string of the bow and without so much as taking aim fired the bolt at the approaching fiend.

The arrow soared past the creatures quivering body and into the dark abyss behind it. The creature remained undeterred and intent on reaching its pray as it closed in towards them. Kai began again to feel overcome by panic as he began to blindly step back away from the predator. Losing all recollection of his surroundings Kai stumbled back on a broken cobblestone block, losing his footing as he felt as if he was about to fall over.

Kai's balance was suddenly recovered when he felt Allie's firm touch steadying him up from behind and could hear her soft reassuring voice whisper lightly into his ears.

"Kai... Sweetie, relax, take the shot again, i'll help you".

"I'll miss it!, I know it" he responded dropping his head into a slouch trying to fade out the sound of the creature closing in towards them.

"Trust me Kai, I won't let you miss".

Kai lifted his head and watched as the creature continued its hobbled approach towards them, rage blazing in its eyes like a furnace.

"Save us Kai... save me."

Her words repeated over and over in his head, the creature, the crowd, the fighting and even the killing seemed all of a sudden distant, as if time had suddenly slowed down to halt. He wasn't going to fail Kai thought to himself, he couldn't fail, he had to live, he had to save her. Kai slowly reached his hand behind his back, focusing his eyes on the devilish creature that stood before him and carefully extracted the arrow from his leather quiver.

Lifting the bow in a smooth fluid motion before him; Kai stood tall and proud ignoring the throbbing pain in his legs and listened on absorbing Allie's soft soothing voice into his thoughts.

"Loosen your grip Sweetie; be comfortable but not too loose."

Kai loosened his grip, lifted his bow arm high, nested the arrow carefully onto the edge of the string and securely grasped the feathered flight. Slowly thoughts of missing his shot began to seep back into his mind and he again began to feel the cold chill of panic invading his concentration. He closed his eyes hoping to block out the sight of the approaching creature.

"Open your eyes Sweetie, You're doing fine" Allie's voice again conquered over his panic filled thoughts and her calming voice clouding out the sound of the moaning creatures approach.

"Try to allow some flex in your elbow, but don't tense your arm out too far or straight. Try to keep your bow arm level with the Varne and always keep your eyes focused on the target, never close them".

Kai re-opened his eyes, no longer was his mind swamped in fear; instead it was filled in determination. He returned his gaze back upon the Varne and adjusted the way he held the bow.

"Follow the shaft of the arrow down with your eye and visualise where the arrow will hit... then release".

Kai watched as the creature's eye grew larger and more ferocious as it began to lift its arms in anticipation for its attack. He wasn't going to miss Kai repeated to himself, he wouldn't let himself miss, he needed to save her.

Time had stopped once more as he released his tight grip upon the flight and watched it soar slowly through the colds winds of the night and hitting the fiend square on the forehead. The Varne moaned in agony as and shock as soon as it appeared to have felt the shot whilst Kai watched; standing tall and proud as the body collapsed heavily onto the cobblestone floor.

Before Kai had the chance to take in the accomplishment of making such a talented shot Allie tightly snatched his wrist and led him away towards the darkened entrance from where the creature came. Trying his hardest not to stumble over the uneven cobblestone pavement as well as ignoring the throbbing pain in his feet; Kai began to slowly increase his pace; so he no longer being towed behind.

Whilst following after his leading companion; Kai couldn't help but briefly gaze upon the horrors that plagued the restless side streets that past them. Never before had Kai feasted his eyes upon such merciless killing; Varnes savagely mauling at the still twitching bodies of their fallen victims and combatants laying waste to all that stood before them. Allie however remained focused and determined as she led the flight deeper into the vein-like streets of the City, showing little indication of the level of physical torment that she was enduring. Kai couldn't help but look ahead at her in admiration.

* * *

Ten minutes had past and the noise of the crowd and the skirmish seemed considerably distant then before as Kai and Allie continued running down the narrow streets of the dark city.

"How long till we reach that platform?" Kai called out to her whilst trying to hide his obvious exhaustion and forcing himself from sitting down to catch his breath.

Allie kept her eyes fixed forward toward the upcoming, partially lit gauntlet of streets that she was yet to pass. At first she appeared as if she was either ignoring Kai's question or thinking of the answer until she broke her silence and called back toward him.

"Not long now, we take one more turn to the left at the next alley then straight ahead and carry on until the second exit, then we should be there ... I think".

"You think?... seriously? you don't know for sure?!" Kai called out with annoyed sense of tension in his voice.

"It's a little hard to concentrate right now you know!" she responded.

Thinking better of wasting his energy on fuelling an argument which Allie would surely want to win, Kai pressed on following Allie as she leadthe way through the maze of streets.

* * *

A further ten or so minutes had past and both Kai and Allie had finally reached a small grassy courtyard that housed a number of Mills at each side, each one towering in size to the other residential properties they passed. Through the gates visible at the other side of the grassy courtyard stood the largest of the buildings, an iron door closed at its base and two large wooden construction platforms erect at either side of it.

The sound of the distant fighting and cheering had lowered to all but a faint whisper echoing through the night making the near silent, pitch black courtyard have a spooky demeanor about it as if anything could be quietly lurking from within. From what Kai could make out however the courtyard appeared untouched or in any way violated by the neighbouring warzone, the grass appeared un-trampled, no bodies laid littered upon the ground or the smell of death lingering in the air.

It was obvious to both Kai and Allie, that the fighting hadn't stretched as far as this district than they would have originally assumed. Finally things were starting to look up Kai thought to himself.

Kai looked beside at his exhausted companion who stood leaning up against the stone arch of the courtyard entrance, busying herself by catching back her breath and mopping up with a torn piece of cloth the trickle of blood that was escaping from the deep gash on her arm. Regardless of her face soiled in dirt and sweat; Kai noticed a glimmer of determination on her face, remnants of her former confident self returning back to the surface. Kai couldn't quite put his finger on it but there was something about Allie which filled him with energy and began to fuel him, a feeling he never felt about anyone before.

"Come on, we're not safe yet" she called out towards him.

Kai followed quickly after her as she hurried into the darkened courtyard. As he had guessed by merely looking at it from the other side of the courtyard; the iron door was sealed securely shut and offered little in the way of sanctuary or an escape route to use. Allie moved over towards the right wooden platform and began to examine how secure the platform was.

"Kai you keep a watch of the entrance, make sure nothing gets through and I'll try and get up there and you follow afterwards."

Kai knew Allie had a point in what she was saying; after all she was at the moment incapable of defending themselves if attacked. It was the only smart move to make that he be the one to do all the defending but he wasn't overly convinced however that Allie could successfully ascend the sturdy platform by herself. Never the less Kai agreed and watched as Allie prepared to make the climb, but he couldn't help but feel a little like a sitting duck whilst she climbed herself to safety.

Kai looked on as Allie slowly began to climb up from one wooden rung to another when a cold chill struck him like a strong wind. He quickly shot round and looked on as a pack of Varnes stood still watching him from the entrance of the courtyard; their eyes ghostly white fixed upon him. No doubt the creatures had smelt Allie's blood and led them straight to us, Kai guessed to himself, reciting Allie's repeatedly in his head.

Kai fired an arrow into the pack of Varnes; hitting the lead creature in the shoulder. Appearing as if it was unaffected by the wound bestowed upon it, the Varne slowly continued forward onto the grass toward Kai, followed closely by the rest of the pack.

"Hurry up Allie!" he shouted desperately up towards Allie; who was midway up the platform strut.

Another two shots were fired, the first one went wide and the second shot hit one of the other Varnes in the kneecap, slowly it down partially but not stopping it or the rest of the pack from approaching. Suddenly a large crack sound exploded behind Kai and he looked back to find Allie had fallen back onto the ground and a broken rung from the platform lying by her feet.

With all but two arrows left loosely propped up in his quiver, Kai returned his gaze back upon the horde of Varnes that slowly continued to creep closer towards them; each one more ready to pounce then the next. In the corner of his eye he watched Allie attempting to feebly ascend the wooden beams of the towering platform again. Placing another arrow into the bow, Kai returned his full attention back towards the snarling predators; his eyes fixed upon the closest of the targets, knowing all too well that the situation was dire and every shot had to count. Remaining confident and determined to defend Allie he lifted the bow up, pulled back the string firmly and quickly turned his gaze back towards his companion.

Kai knew it wasn't the right time for goodbyes, nor any other choice of words that could be considered disheartening to hear; so he looked back upon the nearest target only to discover it lay motionless on the floor. The remaining three Varnes began to step over the body of their fallen brethren and continue their approach. Without so much as a few seconds to presume what had actually dispatched the beast, Kai took a step back, realigned his aim, about to release the arrow; when suddenly his vision was obscured by blinding light and he was knocked firmly to the ground.

Kai's vision began to slowly adjust to its surroundings and he watched helplessly pinned down on the ground as a volley of arrows showered upon the pursuing Varnes.

The sound of their groans of agony echoed around the Courtyard and after what seemed like minutes the sounds finally quietened down until only the sound of the distant fighting and cheers from the audience could be barely heard.

Allie crawled off from Kai's back and rose to her feet, immediately she gestured with her lowered arm to help Kai back up; only to being politely rejected as he lifted himself back to his feet.

"What happened?" he grumbled angrily, whilst rubbing what he considered being newly developing bruise on his forehead.

Without so much as waiting for an answer, Kai focused his attention towards the source of the bright light that beamed out of the doorway and watched as three dark silhouettes approached from within the bright portal of light.


	11. Chapter 11: To Protect & Serve

**Chapter 11: To Protect & Serve**

The heavy wooden door slammed behind them as both Allie and Kai were escorted down what seemed to be a well lit, decorated corridor.

Allie appearing to have noticed out of the corner of her eye that Kai's limping had vastly worsened than before; discretely gritted her teeth and rolled her eyes as she slid up next to him. Without so much as a waiting for Kai to reject any assistance she would have offered due to some fool hardy or stubborn reason based solely on his pride, she grabbed tightly onto his wrist and yanked his arm over onto her shoulder, so most of his weight would be resting upon her.

Naturally Kai felt the sudden urge to lift himself free from her tight grasp and continue on unaided, but he knew all too well that his legs wouldn't allow it; so he remained quiet, with his eyes fixed straight ahead.

The sound of the distant fighting decreased in volume behind them and Allie's face was fixed in wonderment at her surroundings, the craftsmanship that had gone into building the tall decorated hallway they stood in was amazing. To her it was obvious this was a corridor that had been added on, the texture and material of the walls were too new and well maintained to have been something that was dug out. Cobblestone originally was Allie's guess, but it had been painted over in cream, the same for the floor except it was blanketed in long red and gold trimmed carpet that served as the way forward, along with wall length banners of the royal crest.

"Very patriotic" Kai heard Allie whisper under her breath.

The corridor itself was relatively narrow but it did allow for both Allie and Kai to walk side by side, with a guard closely following from the rear and another guard leading the way.

It was then that Allie's eyes moved over to the lead guard's weapon and Kai couldn't help but notice Allie snigger at it.

"Typical rookie move; not watching your surroundings and keeping your weapon open for theft" she whispered towards Kai whilst keeping her eyes fixed upon the oblivious guard.

"No trouble Allie, please not now" he quietly whispered back towards her.

Kai was under no illusions that Allie was equally as curious as he was in regard to who exactly these guards were and what their business with them was. He wasn't at all surprised either when she spoke out towards the lead guard with a devilish smirk upon her dirtied and bloodied face.

"Might want to keep one hand over your weapon, I could have shanked you by now."

The guard's eyes widened in apparent shock at her sudden outburst but refrained from giving her the satisfaction of turning around and responding to it; instead he continued his gaze straight ahead with a serious and focused expression on his face as he continued further on down the corridor.

Slowly the lead guard's hand slowly descended down upon the hilt of his sword, the sudden realism of getting _shanked_, as Allie so grotesquely put it; seemed to bother him, it would seem and it was plainly obvious that his concentration seemed to be suddenly distracted and nervous.

Allie couldn't help but burst out laughing at the mere sight of the soldier's macho image dissolving into nothing more than paranoia before her very eyes. Kai instantly looked towards her with a disapproving glare on his face; it was plainly obvious to him that she was no stranger to giving young soldiers a hard time and she appeared to take full enjoyment at doing it.

As quickly as her barrage of giggles appeared; they disappeared equally as fast, but replaced in what appeared to Kai as being an overly eccentric act of femininity that he had ever bared witnessed to or expected from her. Allie brushed back a few rogue strands of her crimson hair away from her jewel like eyes and turned her gaze towards the other guard that marched loosely beside Kai. Immediately she rewarded the guard with a surprisingly cute yet flirtatious smile that made Kai have to look twice to confirm he wasn't imagining it. Her eyelashes fluttered lightly as if each strand was trying to shake something off from its tip and the guard couldn't help but look upon her for a few seconds trying to disguise a surprised yet attracted smile on his once serious face.

"Don't worry I'm not going to tattle on you boys if you talk...c'mon what's your names?"

The lead guard remained silent and serious apparently unaffected by her girlish charms, but it was obvious that the other guard didn't share the same immunity as he slowly returned his gaze towards Allie and hesitantly spoke back.

"The names Tekret and he's Scothe"

Tightening her grip on Kai's wrist, Allie moved him closer towards her, it was apparent to Kai that the need to readjust her hold upon him was necessary as it seemed her wounded arm was beginning to bother her somewhat. Regardless of her apparent discomfort Kai watched as Allie remained focused, ignoring the pain and continued to probe the guard that stood by his side.

"So how long have you been a guard here then Tekret? It must be pretty exciting to protect the Royal family."

The young guard unlike his leading comrade dismissed his original plan of remaining silent and saw little shame in continuing the conversation further after all it wouldn't hurt, he was no doubt saying to himself. To Kai's amazement the guard no longer appeared in anyway nervous as before and continued to respond in a manner that resembled the way friends would converse on the street.

"That isn't my post; I get to pick up the trash basically." He responded wittily towards her and throwing Kai an insulting snigger and wink.

Allie appeared to bite her lip all the whilst Kai squeezed firmly upon her shoulder trying to silently tell her; to take it on the chin and not respond by firing back with one of her quick dagger-like retorts that from his experience does little to help matters.

Bright torches lit the way along the corridor, illuminating colourful paintings and tapestries that hung carefully upon the walls every so often. Allie looked upon each one, appearing as if she was absorbing every inch as she passed. Looking upon her; Kai felt as if another part of her hidden former life was rising back towards the surface, remnants of a time that wasn't devoid of such luxurious and spacious delicacies.

"Everyone starts at the bottom of the chain; I bet your Captain is the same." continued Allie who quickly tore herself away from the decorations and glared back upon the trooper.

"Yeah Mortis is pretty talented, he's inspirational"

Allie shot Kai a cheeky smile and a wink, Kai figured by her sudden sense of apparent accomplishment she got the answers she wanted.

"Well having a Captain like that makes for great soldiers. I imagine he always keeps you informed and doesn't let the higher ups dictate what he tells his squad."

"Exactly! When he told me to go collect the illegal entrants to the festival I was all over it, need to keep him impressed so I can move further up the ranks."

Kai weakly returned a smile back towards Allie; knowing perfectly well that no doubt that little bit of extra information was undoubtedly the cherry on the cake she was digging for.

* * *

Ten minutes or so had past and both Kai and Allie found themselves standing in a mighty stone throne room decorated in golden framed portraits and glyphs as far as the eye could see. Throughout the edge of the throne room stood equally spaced, finely carved and painted pillars ascending to the towering ceiling above.

Kai stood with his back against the hard stone brick wall of the grand room. In what he could roughly surmise, the place appeared to be designed solely for nobility; a Palace or Temple no doubt, It's owner more than likely a person of high stature throughout the City.

Kai gazed in wonderment at the great stone hall, its walls polished and shining, its size was titanic; significantly larger than any place he had ever read, heard or even dreamt about and way more expanse than the large building he stood in when he signed up to enter the tournament.

The vast room was lit by deep alcoves at each side, each one encasing an enflamed torch within in its core and illuminating the room brighter than any sun lit window could achieve. Standing proud within the centre of the hall stood a large tiled dais a metre or so high and upon the top of it sat two empty large thrones. The throne to the left Kai recognised almost instantly by its blinding gleam as being crafted from solid gold. The throne to the right was almost identical to its brother however unlike the other one it appeared not to be fashioned from solid gold nor did it shine; instead it sparkled, appearing transparent like glass. Its beauty was something Kai had never seen before, however for some reason it seemed all too familiar to him.

Returning his attention back towards the two guards that stood before them, Kai watched as both of them quickly attempted to smarten and straighten their armour, as well as hastily wiping clean the hilts of their weapons; as if they were both about to undergo some sort of thorough inspection.

Allie seemed slightly amused at the guard's sudden pitiful sight of desperation to spruce up their uniform and she let off an obviously loud snigger.

"What's funny?" Kai whispered towards her; all the while clearly confused at the comical sight that stood before them.

Allie leant closer towards Kai, giving little concern on how loudly she spoke and wasn't bothered if she was overheard by the two clowns.

"Rookies, look at them tarting themselves up like nervous teenagers on a first date, they actually think their Commanding Officer won't notice the state of their uniforms."

"Being nervous and trying to smarten up their uniform doesn't make them Rookies... a little paranoid maybe, I'm sure it's natural for experienced soldiers to regularly get grilled for looking occasionally...tacky too " responded Kai still seemingly lost as to what all the fuss is about.

"Oh please, self maintenance and up-keeping ones appearance is second nature to a seasoned Vet. They unknowingly aspire to always look their best even when they sleep; it's branded in their training. These Rookies still think a quick wipe down will suffice... idiots".

Kai gave in, it was obvious Allie knew or at least claimed to know what she was talking about when it came to military protocols; so he merely shrugged and didn't say another word.

The sound of light footsteps echoed from behind one of the distant columns ahead of them and two men approached from the distant corner of the room. The taller of the men, a man with obvious self respect marched towards them. The way he moved appeared powerful and in tune with his companion each of his feet following a rhythmic pattern, not one appearing different or out of place. The man marched like a finely tuned machine, unfaltering and appearing unawares to the fact that he was no longer in the company of a marching formation.

Pinned carefully upon his jacket's lapel was an expansive collection of military medals and pins no doubt accomplishments from his years in the service, each once shining from constant buffering up and carefully re-attached exactly ten millimetres from other another. His dark green trousers were starched and pressed smartly, no hint of a crease in sight. His boots unlike the ones Allie once possessed remained spotless and polished, and reflected the distant light from the nearby torches on its pitch black surface.

The other man was significantly shorter in both size and stature in comparison to the other man, unlike the other men in the room; he was neither dressed in thick layers of armour like the soldiers nor was he finely attired in the uniform of an officer. Instead the man stood coated in a thick set of brown robes that instantly gave off Kai the illusion that the man was of Holy descent similar to that of monk or a scribe.

The guard who minutes before had lead the way when escorting Kai and Allie, stepped forward towards the two men, his attention however focused solely on the taller of the two.

"Captain, these are the-" he began without so much as greeting either man with a customary salute.

"I am perfectly aware of that Private!" the larger of the two men responded back towards him before the soldier could so much as finish his sentence and all the while glaring disrespectfully at the junior soldier that stood before him. "Where is the other recruit, there were three sent and only two stands before me?"

"Private Thule is securing the entrance to the hallway Captain, would you like me to summon him?"

Negative, both of you report immediately to the Barracks; until you have both learnt how to correctly address an Officer and better present yourself in the future. I will have the quarter master deal with you later."

The two recruits quickly saluted in shameful acceptance of the Captain's dressing down before quickly marched off into one of the side doors hidden discreetly behind the maze of columns, leaving both Allie and Kai standing alone before the two men.

"Captain Mortis I presume?" Allie quickly spoke out before the sound of the nearby heavy side door could be heard closing firmly shut.

"That's correct" The Captain responded with a warm yet serious looking smile upon his face and slowly crossing his hands before his chest. "It would seem that my new recruits have been divulging you with information. So I think it's your turn to answer my questions; who are you?"

Allie immediately stood upright, her chin up, chest out, stomach in, shoulders back and eyes straight as if she was addressing her own former Commanding Officer.

"Allie Vox: Former Junior member of the Valkarian High Council and Head of Research in 'Advanced Piston Technology."

"Aww Valkaria, a noble town... in its day. Dare I say its beauty has all but diminished as of late and who is your companion?"

Kai stood up straight in an attempt to mimic Allie's stance and respond back to the Captain, but Allie with her gaze still fixed front spoke out on his behalf.

"Kai... he's just a block dweller"

Kai knew Allie's simple explanation as to who he was, was by far the most accurate, simple and truthful explanation she could have come up with, but he couldn't help but feel a sense of useless after she said it.

"An interesting party indeed" chuckled Captain Mortis dropping his arms to his sides and smiling at his companion "nevertheless to business; it would seem your admission into the tournament was illegitimate young lady?"

"You can say that again" interrupted Kai as he took one step forward so he was parallel with Allie.

"Being beaten and tied up for those creatures to eat me was my idea of a perfect day obviously" Allie said sarcastically. "I was abducted and thrown in. To which I want to report for further investigation and disciplinary action taken against the ass responsible" she ordered, no longer trying to avoid sounding in anyway insubordinate to the man standing before her.

"By whom exactly?"

"Rolo Kovolt; former member of the Valkarian Guard and resident here it would seem".

Mortis' expression instantly appeared surprised by Allie's response, lifting one of his eyes brow into the air and second's later briefly catching a glimpse of his hooded companion in the corner of his eye. Kai couldn't help but get the impression that something felt a little odd in the Captain's reaction.

"Magister Kovolt is one of the Captains in the Rabantian Triumvirate Court, a highly respected and honoured individual within the City. I hope you have sufficient evidence to backup that claim."

"Allie was knocked unconscious but I heard him plot her capture" interrupted Kai again speaking out before Allie could continue.

"Mere hearsay, his word against yours. But without solid proof and with a name as widely respected as his, I doubt you will stand much of a chance of an investigation ever being made" Mortis responded with a serious yet slightly annoyed expression on his face.

"I heard him mention Allie's name having a price on her head" Kai continued.

Mortis turned his head towards his hooded companion and with a small nod the robed individual walked off in the direction the two guards went.

Mortis watched as the man left the room and slowly turned back round returning his gaze back towards both Allie and Kai;

"It's not uncommon, bounties are recognised in Rabantre, only if its sanctioned through the appropriate channels that is, of course. However if your accusation regarding Magister Kavolt is true and your lady friend does in fact have a bounty on her head, the abduction itself would be legalised".

"And throwing her into your little festive massacre, would that be legalised too?" Kai continued.

"Of course not, bounties that request the killing or harming of another being is strictly prohibited within the walls of the City. Only live apprehensions that are immediately delivered to the 'Correction & Rehabilitation Office' for collection by whoever posted the bounty is allowed".

"So you aren't going to do anything?" asked Allie giving of a large sigh and looking as if this whole conversation was a waste of her time.

"I'm afraid not, I can only apologise for the inconvenience caused to you, usually our scouts would have spotted and extracted you from the festival before the start. How they neglected to see you is indeed something I will have to investigate further, I'm afraid".

"Crooked guards perhaps" retorted Kai under his breath and turning his head away from Mortis, fixing his gaze upon a nearby hanging portrait.

Mortis appeared slightly annoyed by Kai's cowardly remark and stepped towards him, instantly returning Kai's attention.

"Accusations like that can get you hurt young man". Mortis said quietly with a sense of hidden dread in his voice.

Kai returned his attention back towards the hanging portrait, all the while trying to forget the Captain's mild threat that was ricocheting through his mind. Mortis stepped back and returned his gaze back towards Allie.

"So how did you spot us?" Allie asked, genuinely looking puzzled.

"An observer contacted us and made us aware". He responded flatly staring at Kai in the corner of his eye.

"So can we go then?" Allie called out to him, instantly grabbing Mortis' full attention.

"One second please" Mortis responded and he quickly turned his attention back towards his robed companion who slowly returned out of nowhere. Mortis listened as the man whispered something quietly into his ear. All the while Allie and Kai looked at each other in confusion.

"Sorry about that" apologised Mortis who quickly spun back roundtowards Allie "I took the liberty of performing a background check on your apparent claim of a bounty being placed on your head. It would seem that your sources are incorrect there is no record of a bounty being placed at this time through the C & R Office".

"So the bounty posted on her head could be illegal". Kai responded whilst lifting his hand out before him as if to explain further with it.

"Or non-existent" Mortis fired back before Kai could proceed with where he was going.

"Then I guess; as you can't cash me in, we can go!" Allie responded, snatching Kai's arm and returning it over her shoulder and looking not at all amused at Mortis as if to say 'thanks for wasting my time'.

"Usually its expected a signed up combatant entering the Festival fights to the end" starring boldly at Kai with a sly grin on his face. "But I think we can waver this rule just this once. A little word of advice though, I recommend you refrain from accusing Magister Kovolt of any further unlawful activities".

Kai and Allie looked at each and slowly turned towards the way they came.

"HOLD!"

"What now!?" Kai shot round angrily,

"To express our sincerest apologies regarding the distress caused to you two tonight we would like to offer you one our finest suites in one of Rabantres luxurious Hotels the _Lilac Opa_l".

"You can shove that offer up your-" Kai began

"We accept" Allie interrupted immediately with her back still turned away from Captain Mortis and slowly lifting a grin upon her face.


	12. Chapter 12: A Sleeveless Sacrifice

**Chapter 12: A Sleeveless Sacrifice **

"I can't believe you actually accepted that guy's invitation, can't you see he's as corrupt as the rest of the City?!" Kai spoke out towards Allie, no longer trying to disguise the clear frustration that was blanketed upon his dirtied face.

Allie continued further forward into the quiet early morning city street and away from the towering stoned Palace; that no less than half an hour before they both had been standing within its mighty throne room getting interrogated.

No longer were the streets littered with distant cheers from excited spectators or the gruelling sounds of a City wide warzone taking place. The streets now seemed devoid of any sound and showed little indication of the bloody festival had taken place mere hours before, save the odd shattered object on the ground.

Kai would occasionally catch sight of a few Rabantians silently brushing away shattered remnants of broken crates or glass from the polished pavement, others carefully pulling down planks of timber that securely barricaded their homes.

Allie now appeared considerably more comfortable then she had before, taking back possession of her bow and quiver and continued on forward into the labyrinth of City buildings that stood before her, whilst Kai slowly trailed behind her.

Despite the reoccurring throbbing in his legs, Kai would no longer allow himself to be propped up like an invalid and seem in anyway reliant upon Allie's unwanted charity. He continued to attempt to break Allie's silence, further trying to push his point across in hope of winning a response back from her, but he was under no illusions; from what he knew of Allie so far she could be as stubborn as a block mule if she wanted and could probably last days without speaking if she saw fit.

"Seriously! you saw what he was like back there; he literally admitted he was buddies with Rolo, how can you trust him?".

Allie slowed her pace and turned her head slightly back round towards her snail paced companion; "He's not corrupt Kai" she responded before quickly returning her gaze straight ahead and proceeding on further.

"How can you be so sure?" responded Kai immediately, whilst trying to increase his pace so he can leech any more words out from while she is partly in the mood to speak.

Allie gently pushed her way through a small collection of Rabantians that were busying themselves collecting debris, Kai couldn't help but notice a few of them stare upon them as if they recognised them from the Festival. Allie ignored the citizens and turned off into one of the well lit side streets noticing more groups of guards and City folk cleaning away debris from the remains of the skirmish.

"Think about it Kai, If he was so adamant on having us killed; he would have done so back there... or better still he could have left us to be gutted by the Varne. Besides did you not see his face when he mentioned investigating further into why his guard patrol didn't spot me before the Festival?

"No" Kai responded with a confused look on his face as if he's was mentally trying to piece together a complex enigma.

Allie didn't look at all surprised at Kai's apparent lack of attention and slow speed of digesting what she was saying.

"He looked sincere and genuinely baffled, as if that degree of negligence doesn't often occur in his unit", Allie turned and stopped, looking directly at him.

"Think about it, he knew something was fishy, he's not corrupt. Let's not forget the fact that he did warn us to basically stay clear of Rolo for our own safety".

Allie continued on; leading the way into another side street that was ringing with the sound of hammering from a small party of City Folk repairing their front door midway along the street.

"That could have been a threat!" he shouted back towards her, only to quickly lower his voice when he noticed the nearby City Folk looking straight at them. "So saying you are right; why the charade? Why didn't he just say so?"

Allie looked back and smiled at Kai, seeming somewhat amused at how ignorant and blind he was at the whole situation.

"To save face obviously. Think about it Kai; if he did admit that there is a hint of corruption within the hierarchy of the City politicians, especially with little evidence to back it up; his reputation would be as good as shot and there's a good chance he would have been... silenced".

"Silenced? As in killed?" responded Kai with an unconvinced look upon his face, "how can you be so sure of all this?"

"I'm not 100% sure, but regardless call it 'Guards Intuition'. Don't forget for a time I was a member of the Valkarian Guard. I myself would have done the same thing if I was in his boots".

Allie turned back around and continued on further ahead leaving Kai in her wake to slowly piece together her theories, so it would begin to make a hint of sense, only to give up shortly afterwards and slowly continue on after her.

"Wait a minute... Don't tell me you fancy the guy" he called after her as if it all began to make sense to him.

Allie didn't take the bait and continued to walk straight ahead, without so much as her turning her head slightly to look back towards Kai, she merely chuckled and called back towards him.

"Hardly Kai, I must admit his manner and authority was quite impressive. I can't deny I hold him with high esteem, but don't worry Sweetie".

* * *

After what seemed like thirty minutes of the most difficult and overly exhausting walking he'd ever experienced; Kai and Allie had finally reached a spacious looking building that towered high above the neighbouring buildings and was hosting a polished marble plague high above the main entrance with the Lilac Opal carved finely into the marble pane. The building was surrounded in decorative flowers of all different colours that filled the air with a soothing fragrance.

After a rather frustrating and heated debate with a rather antagonising receptionist, explaining the situation with Mortis and the complimentary room. Kai and Allie reluctantly accepted the key to the only vacant room available to them, to Allie's annoyance the room had only a double bed.

* * *

The sun descended into the darkened abyss of the outside night sky blanketing the luxurious hotel room into a blinding darkness. After hours of sleeping surprisingly well on the couch that Allie more than happily directed him to in the hotel room's living room; the pain that had been plaguing Kai's legs had all but diminished into nothing more than a mere occasional discomfort.

After wiping away the hardened sleep dust that gathered around Kai's eyes lashes, he arose from his comfortable chair and slowly began to walk repeatedly around the dark room, the gloomy images of his parent's mysterious death and all the unanswered questions badgering his mind.

Suddenly his troubling thoughts were dragged away by a soft whimper coming from the nearby bedroom. Kai turned his head slightly and gazed upon the darker outline of the closed bedroom door, again the sound of whimper escaped from within. The thoughts of intruding upon his female companion's sleeping quarters; naturally felt discourteous at first, but looking back at how he felt when her life was in danger and how the adrenaline flowed through his veins, it for some reason to him, justified entering.

Kai silently pushed open the bedroom door and he noticed Allie's silhouette sitting with her knees curled up to her chest on the wooden floor. She was gazing out towards a large window that looked upon the moon lit City. Kai slowly approached, his eyes remained fixed upon her, the shine of the moonlight illuminating her more than anything else in the room.

He could make out that Allie was dressed in the Hotel's complimentary pink dyed cotton dressing gown and her hair was neatly tied back, which shined in the darkness as if was recently washed and still damp.

"You ok?" Kai asked softly, carefully trying not to startle her; he walked around the foot of the bed and towards where she sat. Allie slowly turned her head towards him, her eyes still glossy and littered in tears.

"Couldn't sleep, damn bed was too comfy, how's the couch?" she replied in her usual witty manner but obviously not a good liar Kai thought to himself, it didn't take a genius to work out she was obviously upset and clearly hiding something.

"Well do you wanna complain to that bitch receptionist or do you want me to?" he chuckled in response which Allie quickly returned with a warm smile back at him.

For a few moments they both just sat quietly beside one another gazing out towards the sparkling stars that littered the night sky.

"Thanks for coming after me by the way." she said suddenly whilst looking down upon the wooden floor. To Kai, Allie didn't seem accustomed to expressing much in the way of gratitude to anyone and he figured if she did she hadn't for quite some time especially with her Hermit like lifestyle.

"You would have done the same for me" he responded quietly back towards her trying to disguise the fact he found her beautiful eyes most enticing.

"Nah...I would have watched you squirm, I'm a heartless ice queen remember" she giggled and playfully nudged him on the shoulder, only to quickly moan in sharp discomfort at her injured arm.

"Let me have a look at that" Kai said immediately, pointing towards her cradled elbow.

"It's fine" she responded sharply and began to shift a few inches away from him.

"Don't be such a cry baby" he retorted, with a non-nonsense look upon his face and obviously not willing to take 'no' for an answer.

Allie looked back towards her companion, Kai's manner was both focused and determined; it was obvious he wasn't going to back down on this argument. Allie gave in and slowly opened her dressing gown to reveal a beautiful pink night shirt hidden beneath. No longer did Allie appear as if she was a hardened survivalist who was always ready for a fight, instead she looked mouth wateringly beautiful, a transformation before his very eyes.

Remembering what he was doing, Kai shifted closer, lifted up the sleeve of her night shirt and began to untie the bloodied makeshift dressing that lay wrapped upon her arm.

The cut wasn't too bad from what Kai could tell, the wound was clean, no sign of infection and the blood appeared to be scabbing up.

"I think you'll live" he said winking towards her and carefully letting go of her arm.

Suddenly he grabbed a hold of his left shirt sleeve and quickly tore it clean off his shirt with a mighty yank. Without so much as gazing upon the damage he caused to his shirt or looking upon the actual sleeve he tore off; he took hold of Allie's arm and began to carefully wrap it around the wound.

Allie looked in wonderment and total shock at Kai's utterly random and thoughtless act.

"You didn't have to do that" she said guiltily looking upon Kai who was busy fastening the sleeve carefully around her arm, the moonlit sky highlighting her glossy eyes yet again as she appeared to be holding back a fresh batch of tears.

"It's only a shirt" he replied unaware of Allie's amazement.

"That's your only shirt stupid" she laughed with a smile on her face.

Kai slowly stopped what he was doing and looked down upon his naked arm, realising all too well the truth behind what Allie had said and couldn't help but give off a small frown.

"Bugger, you have a point there" he said after a few a seconds.

Allie burst into a fit of hysterics, shortly followed by Kai. Without so much as word of warning; Allie leaned over and kissed him squarely and delicately on the lips.

For a minute or so the horrors of his recent few days had escaped Kai, his mind was no longer a quagmire of clouded memories of him starring down into the dark abyss of the crater he once called home, the terrifying escape from the Hexells or taking the lives of savage creatures. For what felt like a lifetime, all that mattered to him was her and her soft, warm touch, anything else didn't feel remotely important in the slightest.

His haven from the reality was short lived as Allie forcefully pushed him away and she quickly jumped to her feet, her back towards him. Before Kai could so much as mutter a single syllable, Allie with her back towards him spoke out to him, her voice muffled with the sound of crying taking control.

"I can't do this, it's not you Kai. I just can't... "

Kai attempted to lift himself up, but before he rose to his full height and before he could get a chance to say a single word in response; Allie raced off out of the room, the sound of the door slamming behind her shuck the room. Kai turned back round towards the window and looked down toward his sleeveless arm, letting out a big sigh.

"Well that could have gone better... at least I get the bed" he muttered to himself.


	13. Chapter 13: A Block Dweller's Breakfast

**Chapter 13: A Block Dweller's Breakfast **

The morning sun rudely flared into the large open bedroom window; rudely awakening Kai from his relaxing and deep slumber. Despite his recuperation on the couch mere hours before, he couldn't help but take full advantage of the comfy vacant bed that Allie hastily abandoned and get some proper shut eye. No longer feeling the strain of exhaustion luring him back into his deep nocturnal haven; Kai slowly lifted his head up from upon the pillow that had moulded softly around his head and carefully surveyed the now lit spacious room he found himself in.

Kai's thoughts began to trail back to the recent events that had transpired a few hours before; the brief yet hypnotically powerful kiss that had awoken feelings he never once knew existed and further blinding him from remembering his actual reasons for being in Rabantre in the first place.

Kai quietly walked into the well lit Hotel Room's living quarters catching a glimpse of Allie lying peacefully upon the carpeted floor that lay at the foot of the couch. Kai's gaze quickly caught sight of a small, creased and worn photograph that had fallen from her open hand and had lightly lain to rest upon the soft ground. Stealthily Kai approached the sleeping beauty and silently knelt down and picked up the discarded photograph carefully from the floor, ensuring he didn't awaken Allie from her deep nocturnal slumber.

The face of the person, despite the ware and tare from the obvious constant folding; depicted a man no older than himself or Allie. A little large around the waist but nevertheless wore his military uniform in apparent pride and high regard for what it represented. His hair, Kai thought was surprisingly long and a tad scruffy for someone enrolled as a soldier, his expression depicting unrelenting seriousness and his eyes shrouded deep mystery. Upon the man's face were a set of large spectacles balancing loosely on the edge of the man's nose, to Kai it gave off a rather geeky, yet serious demeanour.

Who the person was that was within the photograph or why Allie would choose to carry it on her person, began to mystify Kai, Allie depicted herself to him as a recluse, separating herself from the burden of having people to care for and admitted herself to shutting out her past along time ago. Kai couldn't help but feel a slight degree of jealousy and a tiny urge to crumple up the photograph. To Kai; Allie didn't seem the sentimental type to keep mementos of past lovers, but he figured whatever her reasoning behind keeping this particular photograph had to be relatively strong indeed.

Kai felt a rush of embarrassment, he was getting jealous of a tattered photograph, a mere object, a talisman that represented a person's past that had long since gone. Kai began to lower the photo when he gazed back into the man's eye, he couldn't put his finger on it and jealousy aside; there was something about the man's face that seemed... malicious.

Allie stirred and Kai quickly placed the piece of paper beside her laying hand; where he found it and slowly backed himself away from her.

* * *

An hour or so had passed and Kai had left Allie to continue her seemingly peaceful sleep undisturbed at the foot of the couch. He began to busy himself within the kitchen quarters of the hotel room; clouding out the loud noises that were invading from the outside city streets and replacing it with a mouth watering sizzle from the darkening fish that he was cooking on the stove. Kai had all but forgotten about the unlucky fish that fell to the deadly hands of Allie the day they met and he couldn't help but give off a slight smirk when he realised how foolish he must have looked when he tried to snatch the slippery prey from the depths of the lake.

The sound of Allie stirring in the corner, then awakening and lifting herself up to her feet immediately awoke Kai's from his trail of thoughts and the sudden sense of awkwardness from the night before began to flood back into his mind. Never before had he expressed such raw passion with anyone; despite it being a small a thing as a kiss. Regardless Kai felt flustered and oblivious as to what to say to Allie in the aftermath of the kiss they shared, that according to her shouldn't of apparently happened.

Kai faced back down towards the stove and continued on tending to the frying fish, the long dead creatures face still appeared to display a sense of apparent shock from its sudden death, yet Kai couldn't help but gaze down upon its lifeless black eyes and see the look of amusement looking back at him; as if it to say it was taking full enjoyment baring witness to Kai's uncomfortable predicament.

"Smells good" Allie called out towards him whilst combing back her still damp looking, maroon coloured hair with her fingers and slowly opening her eyes to take in the morning light.

Kai still felt at a loss as to how to best respond to Allie, thinking to himself, would it be considered somewhat cowardly or even smart to simply pretend that the night before never actually happened and that the kiss they shared was nothing more than a figment of his rather colourful imagination?

Kai remained silent, keeping his eyes fixed upon the frying fish whilst it mockingly looked back up towards him.

"Good morning by the way" she continued, seeming oblivious to the fact that Kai failed to even acknowledge her first comment. "Finally you cooking that thing are you, it's about time".

Kai appeared totally fixated towards the lifeless creature that cooked before him, yet his mind was filling over and over with suitable responses to reply to his eagerly awaiting companion.

Finally Kai mustered the courage and struggled out a response back towards her.

"Urgh, Good morning, did you sleep well?" instantly he felt a sudden sense of regret knowing if the tension hadn't already been awkward before it had no doubt dramatically escalated now. Thoughts of doubt struck him like a dagger to the chest as he began to think; had his response been too insensitive? Should he have at least apologised for last nights kiss.

"Yeah thanks... it needs more salt" she responded in her traditionally neutral, wisecracking manner whilst pointing towards the charcoal coloured frying pan with one hand and tightening up the belt around her dressing gown with the other.

'Back to normal I see' Kai muttered to himself deliberately speaking too quietly for Allie to make out.

"I made you something." Allie announced towards him that caught him totally off guard.

He quickly tore his attention away from the stove and looked towards her, her face still appeared slightly crimson and emotional, with remnants of tears loitering in the corners of her eyes. However Kai noticed she no longer appeared overshadowed in the emotional state he bared witness to the night before, instead she appeared stronger, more confidant and somewhat... happy.

Allie pulled carefully out from her dressing gown a light green material and laid it carefully to rest onto the kitchen side.

Kai couldn't help but feel a strange state of puzzlement and gratitude that was beginning to brew from within him. He couldn't help but wonder to himself; had Allie felt the same surprised, warm feeling when he had thoughtlessly gave up his sleeve for her.

Kai carefully picked up the material with the tips of his fingers and closely examined the fabric, all the while trying not to appear too snobby and rude by touching the cloth as little as he possible. It was a finely stripped green cloth, silky to the touch, and cut down into an accurately shaped rectangle that was as long as a belt.

"It's a bandana" she muttered under her breath towards him, all the while trying not to blush further and subsequently turn her face a brighter shade of red then it already was. "It should keep your head warm and make you look more... well a little more...manly."

Despite Allie's wisecracking remark; Kai couldn't help but feel somewhat lost for words and flattered.

"Allie this is-" Kai hesitated again feel flustered and struggling to structure an appropriate response in his mind.

"You don't like it! I knew it! I shouldn't have bothered." Allie fumed and began to reach forward and snatch back the bandana from his grasp. Foreseeing Allie's action Kai instantly lifted the bandana away from her reach and stared directly into her face.

"-This is **AMAZING** Allie" Kai finished, acting as if Allie's sudden outburst didn't happen and he gave her a warm smile that she immediately returned in kind.

"However i'm gonna need your help putting it on, fishy hands you see" he responded with a smile and raising his hands out towards her. Allie returned the smile and carefully took back the cloth and began to delicately wrap it around her companion's slightly shaggy forehead, to Kai's surprise and relief she seemed to take much care not to tie it on too tight.

"Where'd you get it from anyway?" Kai asked with a slightly serious tone to his voice, he couldn't bare to think that Allie foolhardily tore up one of her finer garments for the likes of him.

" I'm sure they won't notice one less bed sheet" Allie giggled and quickly kissed him softly on the cheek and headed off into the direction of the hotel room's washroom. With her back to Kai she shouted back towards him "I'm just going to...you know freshen up, let me know when you put out our breakfast and have it on the table" again she began to giggle and proceeded to make her way to the washroom.

Still donning a chirpy smile and wondering what she meant by _put out our breakfast_ the pungent smell of burnt fish hit Kai like a ball to the crotch as the odour flooded harshly into his nostrils and he looked back down towards the frying pan to the find the unlucky fish a blaze.

* * *

To Kai's surprise the slightly overdone fish despite its ashy, crispy exterior still provided a most delicious breakfast as originally anticipated, of course Allie still threw out the occasional remark as to how it could have been seasoned or cooked better, but despite that fact; Kai was more than satisfied with his Block Dweller breakfast.

Rolling over a couple lightly fried red plump tomatoes to one side of the plate and nudging away the few remaining peas, Kai gazed back up towards Allie who sat across from him along the dining room table. She appeared lost in thought yet again and was busying herself by mindlessly prodding away at the carcass of the fish that lay upon her plate with her fork.

"So what's our next move Allie?" he called out towards her, breaking the silence and carefully laying his knife and fork to rest upon the clay plate.

"I've got a few ideas at the moment, I'm just thinking of a suitable plan and need a little peace and quiet to get my head around it" she responded with her eyes still fixed upon the remains of the creature that she was still lightly stabbing.

Kai took the hint, laid his elbows to rest upon the table and let out a quiet sigh. The urge to press the issue about the night before again began to hound him and he couldn't help but bite his lip to keep from speaking out loud without so much as thinking about what he was actually going to say.

"Can I say something" Kai called out to her again, no longer able to cope with the uncomfortable silence that overshadowed the room.

"Let's be honest Kai, You will despite the fact If I say no anyway" Allie responded in an annoyed and agitated manner and still not honouring Kai with even a second's glimpse of eye contact.

Kai let the 'below the belt' verbal jab slide and spoke regardless "My reasons for saving you Allie wasn't motivated solely on getting the answers about my Parent's death from you. Despite the fact I find you most of the time; stuck up and relatively annoying; I do... sort of like having you around and ermm ... well I couldn't have left you in there".

Allie stopped stabbing the broken shards of bones that sat upon her plate, laid the fork onto the Dining Room table and slowly gazed up towards her companion, her eyes appearing as if they holding off from releasing another torrent of tears.

"I am not ashamed to admit to you that last night was a totally new experience for me, nor am I embarrassed to admit my feelings for you have far surpassed any feelings I've ever had for anyone else before". Kai continued, all the whilst trying his best not to let this rush of courage slip away and leave him in the flustered mess he was thirty minutes before.

Allie wiped her sparkling eyes and returned her gaze back towards him, however her expressions were longer displaying the same emotion or hidden feelings, that it had seconds before, instead it was now masked in seriousness.

"Back to business, ok?" she called out towards him, wiping away the final hint of emotion from her eyes and she looked directly towards him.

Kai's valour and bravery had all but been shot down and all he could do was silently agree with a small nod to the head, but emotionally he felt rejected in a way that made him feel sick.

"The rucksack you have, as I mentioned before is indeed familiar to me. For a time it belonged to... a friend of mine. It no longer being in his possession is something which isn't possible unless something serious happened to him". Allie explained crossing her hands and still looking straight towards Kai.

"You can't be certain, perhaps your friend gave it to someone else or it was simply stolen from him". Kai replied disguising the emotional torment that repeated over and over in his mind.

"No! Not him, he would never have allowed himself to be simply robbed and... well... he promised never to part with that rucksack... it was a gift".

"Hang on! So you joined me, thinking I wasted your friend and took his bag?" Kai fired back trying to not sound too enraged and cheated.

"I'm not going to lie to you, for a time yes. But it didn't take long for me to realise that that wasn't the case." She responded.

"So what makes you say that?" he asked back genuinely curious at what her reasons for that assumption would be.

"The fact that you were quite... useless and pathetic when I first met you" she said adopting her all too familiar cheeky grin upon her face.

"So, it would seem you have your own agenda for finding the person, who left the bag behind and not to mention killed my Parents. So what is it you're after then? Revenge?" Kai asked with a disapproving expression on his face.

"Any objections? I would have assumed our agendas are somewhat aligned and you would have appreciated the extra help" she quickly fired back towards him and seeming in no way remotely bothered of how Kai's judged her right now.

"I only want answers Allie, not bloodshed".

"How long do you think that will last, especially after you get your answers? Do you think you will be so forgiving then? No, like me; you will want vengeance, I guarantee it" she continued.

As much as Kai disapproved of Allie's two dimensional, vengeful way of thinking he couldn't help but realise she did in fact have a valid point, he began to wonder exactly what he would do when he does come face to face with the culprit responsible.

Kai pushed back the dark thoughts of exacting revenge back into the vast archives of his mind and responded back towards her. "Well right now, I only care about the answers, who did it? And why?"

Allie didn't appear remotely convinced by his answer but chose to not press the matter. "Well I think our mutual friend Rolo is our prime suspect at the moment" she snapped back towards him and carefully moved her dirty plate to one side of the table, so she can rest her elbows upon the wooden table top.

"What makes you say that? One heck of a coincidence wouldn't you say. The same guy who kidnapped you, killed my Parents. Forgive me if I find that a little farfetched. Sure kidnapping you is one thing but that doesn't make him accountable for my folk's death does it?" Kai responded.

"Call it a hunch, but if there was anyone who was capable of taking my... friend's rucksack, it would have to be a Valkarian Cadet who was trained equally as hard as my friend was ... and as Rolo is the only Cadet from Valkaria around these parts; the finger points directly towards him. Not to mention the red powder we found in the bag".

"What about it?" Kai asked, again seeming increasingly more baffled.

Adi let out a large sigh, "That red powder; Redstone, it's got the potential to be used to make weapons that can level a small city and as I mentioned before; it was discovered, studied and weaponized by myself and my friend in Valkaria. Our good friend Rolo Kovolt was a slimy Sergeant back then who served as our assistant and general dog's body. If anyone would have had the opportunity in my absence to kill my friend, steal his rucksack, steal and use the Redstone it would have been him".

"Good theory, but why my Parents?"

"Who knows Kai, my guess is they were simply collateral damage that got in the way. A man like Rolo doesn't progress from a useless grunt to Magister of one of Overworld's largest cities... without dirtying his hands once and a while".

"Wait! Before the festival he mentioned cashing your bounty in himself, he's obviously working for someone else" Kai said.

"Maybe so, but he still remains to be our main suspect responsible for your folks death and if he is merely a pawn in a bigger game, then he's our best shot at tracking down the mastermind behind it all".

Allie arose from her seat and began to stretch, Kai gazed back down towards the table; slowly absorbing all the facts and trying to mentally mesh them together to get the whole picture, but to him there was too many holes and facts that were missing that he couldn't ignore.

"So where do we find Rolo? I doubt we'll find him at the pub again". Kai asked as he began to lift himself up from the table.

"The Palace or some other Political den is my guess, after his wooping in the pub it's unlikely he'll show his face around public anytime soon, if he can help it. The Palace I think is the best bet". Allie replied whilst turning round and walking towards the direction of the bedroom.

"You actually think they'll let us stroll right in? If this City is as corrupt as you say; there's a good chance we'll be arrested or even killed before we get close enough to knocking on the Palace front door. I don't mean to sound negative but a withered bow and a few arrows won't do us much good against an army of corrupt soldiers".

Allie turned her head slightly back round towards him and her familiar grin could be seen from the side of her mouth.

"That's why we're going shopping" she giggled.


	14. Chapter 14: Customer's Always Right

**Chapter 14: Customer's Always Right **

The hot rays of the burning sun beamed down onto Kai as both he and Allie strolled down the lively gauntlet of city streets. Allie had commandeered a rather feminine and perky looking pink pair of slippers from the hotel room, that Kai had a feeling wasn't in anyway meant to be complimentary but Allie she didn't seem remotely bothered. Despite Allie's apparent hatred for the way she looked, Kai couldn't help but think she looked rather adorable and in a strange sort of way quite cute, but thought it wasn't the time or place to throw her the compliment, especially as she was the one carrying the bow.

The smell of the nearby fast food stands lingered in the air, and despite Kai still feeling uncomfortably bloated after his large breakfast; he couldn't help but lick his lips and let a stray droplet of saliva escape from the side of his mouth when the thought of a flame grilled ocelot burger with extra mustard entered his mind.

Allie remained focused and determined at where she was heading, pushing her way through the mouth watering fumes of the fast food stalls and the boisterous rabble of Rabantians that obscured her way as she continued on towards the shopping district.

"Wait here" she said suddenly, holding her hand firmly out towards Kai and stopping him dead in his tracks. Kai remained still and watched as Allie strolled away from him and headed towards a rundown wooden shanty like shopping stall that hid itself within the shadows of the street corner.

After what seemed like an hour of watching a heated conversation firing backwards and forwards between the Allie and the scruffy looking female stall merchant, Allie strutted away with a proud expression plastered on her face and a fairly weathered yet considerably more practical pair of traveller's boots sitting comfortably on her feet. Kai thought it wise not to ask how Allie was able to barter herself a better pair of boots with no ingots, but after looking back upon the merchant who was busying herself by sticking a price label upon a fluffy pair of good as new pink slippers; it all began to make sense and he couldn't help but give off a little chuckle to himself.

"Definitely a vast improvement" Kai whispered jokingly towards her when she approached. Allie couldn't help but crack a smile in response and whispered back towards him

"They weren't my colour".

* * *

After a few miles of traversing the hectic city streets; the party reached a small, rather rundown looking store with boarded up windows and chipped brickwork. Kai figured that Allie had much greater expectations than what he had as he followed behind her through the doorway of the store, careful not to step on any broken glass that littered the ground as well as avoiding the sticking out rusted nails that hung out from the door frame.

Allie strolled amidst the vast aisles of weaponary that were decoratively posted around the large rectangular, unlit store. Kai couldn't help but notice how Allie's gaze never wondered over to look upon any of the deadly apparatus that was on display nor did her attention swim towards the animal skulls that hung gruesomely upon the walls. Allie's eyes remained fixed upon the hooded shop keeper that stood motionless behind the counter within the shadows, awaiting the customers to approach.

"Can I help you?" the monk like figure asked in a deep gloomy voice when the Allie reached the counter. Kai looked nervously upon the hooded figure, his memories sawing back to his Father's bedtime stories of the cloaked Grim Reaper that escorted the dead to either the Nether or Aether and how this figure before himself scarily resembles him.

"Weaponary; blades and bows" she replied in her all too familiar no nonsense manner.

"Well take a look around, we have an extensive range that I'm sure will accommodate your every need" the man replied in his gloomy, lifeless voice.

"I hope it extends further that that" she snapped back towards him whilst staring back at him coldly. "If I was after second hand, crap weapon that would most likely fail after a single scuffle, I would tattoo 'mug' on my head and then consider buying your dregs. However as I'm not a total idiot, I wanna see the good stuff you've got hidden around this place".

The hooded figure remained motionless and silent, the dark hood encasing the figure's face blanketed the man's face in total darkness which further mystified the Kai further. The store went suddenly quiet and the sound of the outside wind and distant city chatter was all that could be heard and Kai was starting to think Allie's harsh and rather impolite way of getting things done had really done it this time.

Without so much as saying a single word the hooded character began to slowly walk around the counter, the sudden urge to defend oneself increased in Kai's mind, yet Allie was the one holding the bow and she didn't seem to share his concern.

The hooded shopkeeper walked straight past Kai and Allie and headed towards the entrance of the shop. After quickly looking around to survey the rest of the store the shopkeeper turned back to the door, bolted it firmly shut and turned over the 'Open' sign to 'Closed'.

The shopkeeper slowly began his approach back towards his customers and lifted down his hood. The shopkeeper was a young man, early thirties was Kai's guess, brightly blonde hair that flared out in comparison to the dark brown coat he wore and upon the side of his cheek sat a deep and rather intimating scar.

"What makes you think I deal in Black Market goods? You think I'm stupid enough to risk losing my license?" the shopkeeper angrily accused Allie, who to Kai didn't appear remotely intimated by it one bit.

"A man who hides his identity under a cloak and does business in the dark tells me he either doesn't have a license to start with or not all his Clucker's are pecking" she snapped back towards him. "Now are we going to be carrying on playing this pointless game or are we going to get to business?"

The shopkeeper seemed convinced and continued his approach back towards the counter.

"Ranged or Close Quarter weapons?" the shopkeeper asked without so much as much as looking back towards his customers and began extracting something from behind the counter.

"Start with ranged" Allie answered whilst looking towards Kai with a 'I knew this would work' smile upon her face.

The Shopkeeper carefully pulled out a folded bow from the depths of the counter and passed it over to Allie.

"It's new in; a Recurve bow, the limbs can be detached from the riser for ease of travel and storage. The riser itself is made from polished Birch, making it both comfortable to wield and strong enough to repel a direct blow from a club".

"The string? Hexell Web?" Kai spoke up from behind Allie.

"Hardly boy, this little baby's fitted with top of the range Wicka web, ten times as strong as Hexell and less likely to snap when stringing the bow".

Allie busied herself examining every inch of the surface of the bow, raising the weapon to mimic drawing, aiming and firing. After a series of repeated stances and pretending to fire a volley of arrows Allie put down the arrow on the counter with a convinced look upon her face.

"So why do keep this one under wraps? If you advertise this in your window, I'm sure every Archer around Overworld will be after it". Kai asked breaking the silence within the shop and Allie's concentration which she instantly rewarded him with a disapproving stare.

The shopkeeper seemed amused by Kai's ignorance which Allie clearly wasn't amused about. "Rabantian soldiers get a little paranoid when their citizen's are better packed then they are. So they prohibited the selling of Grade C weapons or above"

Allie had enough of listening to the shopkeeper giving Kai a free lesson on the bleeding obvious and decided to get back to business.

"Bolts? Clucker feathered?" she spoke out loud whilst staring angrily towards Kai. Kai himself felt it being the appropriate time to cease talking and leave the business to Allie.

"Yeah of course, the best fletches on an arrow is Clucker obviously; trimmed finely to minimise wind resistance. The arrow shaft is made from a lightweight wood called 'Spruce' which is strong enough not to kink and way more reliable not to bend. The tip itself is made from sharpened flint and is strong enough to pierce iron".

"Sounds decent enough" Allie replied, seeming not to overly impressed but satisfied. "I'll take two bows and four dozen bolts".

"You'll be lucky" snapped back the Shopkeeper, as if he predicted she'd say that "we only have the one bow in stock, it minimises the possibility of getting caught in a raid if the guards come snooping around looking for contraband".

"Then I'll take it" she fired back without a moment's hesitation.

"How do you expect to pay for it, this baby has the street value of over 200 gold ingots?, hardly pocket change is it?".

"You're gonna give me a decent discount, 40 silver ingots and paid via credit".

"Haha, you'll be lucky I don't take credit and do I look like the sort of bum to give away a gem like this for less than it's worth?" the shopkeeper responded taking back the bow and beginning to fold it back up.

"Looks can be deceiving" Allie responded; gripping firmly onto the counter and leaning slightly forward upon it.

"So what makes you think I'll part with it for less?"

"Your dealing with dirty merchandise. A mere whisper in the wrong ear that you're weapon running black market goods will get this place quickly closed down and you thrown head first into the mines. As I myself am close associates with a certain Captain Mortis, I'd like to think you're smart enough to realise these little facts alone bare me some credible brownies points when it comes to discounts"

The store again returned back to total silence and Kai couldn't help but feel a little out of place as if he was stuck in the middle of two opposing armies doing bloody battle against one another.

"Black mailing in this City is a dirty thing to do" the shopkeeper announced breaking the silence and sounding increasingly more infuriated then he had seconds before.

Allie gave off a wicked smile, "The entire City is one stinking cess pit, you and I know perfectly well it's either adapt to survive or get wasted. You can easily get a new weapon with ease and next to nothing, so I implore you to accidentally mislay this 'baby' and get on with your day".

"What about the 40 ingots you mentioned?" the shopkeeper snapped back desperately.

"That offer expired" Allie replied back impatiently, all the while Kai looked on in total amazement at how yet again she was able to accomplish the impossible.

The Shopkeeper looked somewhat lost for words and felt the weight of his customer's piercing eyes staring him down. Droplets of sweat began to drop from his forehead, and then finally he nodded in agreement. Without so much as a whisper the Shopkeeper lifted over two fully stocked leather quivers and rolled them over to Kai along the counter, whilst Allie carefully took back the bow and laid it to rest upon her shoulder.

Allie and Kai slowly made their way through the cluttered and unsorted aisles of colourful weapons, unlocked the rusted bolt upon the front door and left as quick as they came without saying a single word to one another or the flustered Shopkeeper they left speechless in their wake.


	15. Chapter 15: The Parting Of Ways

**Chapter 15: The Parting Of Ways**

The large stone towers of the Palace peeked over the sunlit rooftops of Rabantre's city buildings, Kai began to feel the surge of adrenaline coursing through his veins, he knew he could be only a couple of streets away and an hour or so away from finally getting the answers that he has been long seeking. Allie who had been seconds before been leading the way noticed Kai's pace dramatically quicken, power walking in front of her and racing towards the direction of the Palace.

"Calm down, if he's there we'll find him, just keep cool" Allie spoke out, racing after him and carefully taking hold of Kai's left hand and slowing him down to his original pace.

"I know..." began Kai, who still remained somewhat distracted by the towering Palace up ahead "it's just the sooner we get there, the sooner we find out what happened".

"In theory... but we've gotta do it carefully Kai, if we go racing up ahead, we will more then likely bring unwanted attention to ourselves and spook Rolo into hiding. If we go in calm and casual-like its a good chance we maintain the element of surprise and catch him; when he's least expecting it".

Kai looked back towards Allie, her advise at first seemed like another one of her excuses to verbally criticise his actions, but the more he thought about it; the more it made sense. Kai nodded in agreement and slowly continued on, all the whilst still holding onto her warm soft hand.

* * *

The Palace lay dead ahead, with crowds hustling and bustling within the main courtyard that stood before the marble steps of the mighty Castle.

Kai couldn't help but tare his eyes away from the titanic stone building when a familiar looking stealthy figure caught his attention.  
Kai recognised the small hooded figure almost immediately slaloming in and out the busy crowds with such skill and speed, she succeeded in maneuvering throughout the Rabantian flooded courtyard without so much as brushing a single person's coat.

The young crook's cream coloured cloak regardless of how well it affectively camouflaged itself within its surroundings stood out like a sore thumb to Kai apparently less drenched then the last time he saw it.

Kai stood still and leant back against a brick wall and began to watch as the wiley young thief continued moving in and out of the busy shoppers, no doubt scouting for a wealthy looking victim to prey upon.

It didn't take long for the young girl to find her perfect wealthy mark as she began to make her approach upon the unaware aristocrat. Kai couldn't help but give off a little chuckle and feel somewhat amused at the young thief's determination and apparent disregard towards the higher class society, as he watched her closing in on her target.

Kai however began to get a cold feeling about the situation, something didn't seem quite right; the wealthy individual and soon to be victim of the young girl's criminal antics seemed somewhat suspicious. He couldn't quite put his finger on it; but the gentleman seemed far too lavish and wealthy to mix within a crowd of common street folk, a chore such as that was usually assigned to servants and maids.

Kai's gaze shifted again, this time catching sight of a number of armed guards assembling around the nearby exit of the Palace courtyard and to his surprise another barricade of troops began to assemble in the other exits routes leading away from the courtyards also. Kai looking upon one of the nearby guards and noticed their attention was fixed firmly upon the same wealthy civilian that had caught the young thief's eye.

"It's a trap" Kai whispered towards Allie with an immediate sense of urgency in his voice, "its staged they setting her up" he continued.

Allie looked around appearing somewhat confused at what he was actually referring to. "What are you talking about?"

Kai began to move forward, ready to bolt out into the busy crowd and try to stop the young girl before she sprung the trap, only to find his arm was tightly held back by Allie with a less then sympathetic expression on her face.

"Don't bother there is nothing you can do." she muttered towards him whilst avoiding making any eye contact and now seeming perfectly aware of what Kai was referring to all along.

"What are you doing? I've gotta do something" Kai replied angrily whilst trying to pry off Allie's vice like grip from around his arm.

"It's not worth it! That will be surely bring more attention to us than we can afford, besides what can you do? you will surely get caught anyway and accused of aiding her"

"I don't care; we can't just stand by and watch her get caught!"

Allie immediately swung Kai's arm around his back and thrust him firmly up against the wall. Kai for a few seconds struggled to push himself away from the wall and free his arm after which he succeeded only in turning his head to one side and catching the sight of the young thief in the corner of his eye.

Allie pushed her mouth close to Kai's ear and began to whisper into it, all the while making sure she didn't make too much of a scene that would attract the unwelcomed attention from any nearby guards.

"Kai, you don't know her! She knows the risks of what she's doing and her sort doesn't care about them anyway, there's nothing you or I can do to help her?"

"Speak for yourself!" Kai called out, again trying to struggle his way from the Allie's firm grasp. He continued looking upon the oblivious thief that was moving closer towards her prey.

The young thief sneaked up behind her victim and began to quietly extract the man's chunky money pouch from the outside pocket of his maroon coloured suade jacket, when suddenly he shot round and grabbed the girl tightly by the wrist.

Startled by the sudden change in her originally planned heist and getaway; the young girl viciously lashed out, scratching the man sharply across the face with her free hand and causing him to release his concrete grip.

The young girl bolted from the spot; the sound of the wealthy man's shouts of pain echoing behind, followed shortly by cries of "thief!".  
The young girl was startled; her getaway was blocked by confused Rabantains looking towards her, each one ready to apprehend the guilty, fleeing assailant.

The girl began to panic, no longer could she stealthily manoeuvre in and out of the crowd, instead she bumped into nearly every person that blocked her way and had to frantically avoid getting caught by hands determined to snag a hold of her, all the whilst unaware that in the fray she dropped her prize into the crowd.

Kai continued to push himself hopelessly away from against the wall in a vain attempt to help the girl, again with little success he began to shout out towards Allie.

"Let me go! She's gonna run right into them! She's going to get caught let me go!"

Saying nothing Allie pushed him further up against the hard brick wall, determined not to give in to Kai's desperate pleads. Becoming increasingly more aggravated and desperate to break free of Allie's firm grip and help the panicking teenager; Kai could helplessly do little more then watch as two burly guards grabbed the fleeing girl by the arms and forcefully dragging her to the ground. He remained helpless looking from afar as the young thief's hands were binded and she was taken away.

10 minutes had past since the guards has departed and the commotion in front of the Palace had all but simmered down to its original hustle and bustle state when Allie let go of Kai.

"Look I'm sorry Kai, but what I did was to protect you, those men..."

Before Allie could finish; Kai struck her hard across the face, knocking her to one side and against the brick wall.

Kai turned towards the shocked young woman who was beginning to stroke her reddening cheek.

"You stay away from me, I don't want to see you again, I don't want to hear from you, our partnership is over"

Allie was a lost for words, her eyes holding back a torrent of tears and her body was shaking uncontrollably.

"Kai... listen to me it was too organised those guards were tipped off long before that thief spotted her target. Guards don't set traps like that for small pickpockets, they were paid off, and interfering would have only got you and I captured too or worse killed."

Kai suddenly grabbed hold of Allie by the shoulders and pushed her firmly up against the wall.

"That's the difference between people like me and barbaric scum like you; I don't always think about number one."

Kai let go of Allie and watched as the emotional young woman dropped onto the cold stone floor. Kai was devoid of emotion for her, to him she appeared drained of all the same determined and courageous attributes she had the day they met, she was nothing more than a gutless stranger. Looking down at her former friend who was covering her sobbing face in her arms, he pulled off the bandana that was wrapped comfortably around his forehead and let it drop onto her lap, he then turned away and left.


	16. Chapter 16: Going it Alone

**Chapter 16: Going it Alone **

The adrenaline coursed manically through Kai's veins whilst his mind was filled with determined thoughts of him rescuing the captive prisoner. He knew not what it was that fuelled him to go after the young girl from the City Guard's custody, after all they were doing their job and she did intentionally set out to pick pocket someone despite the fact she was caught before she got away. Nevertheless something felt wrong about the young thieves' apprehension.

Kai slalomed his way past the oncoming herd of city folk making their way towards the hussle and bussle of the market, whilst the distant sight of the escorted young girl remained focused in his sights above the crowd.

Thoughts began to slowly ricochet throughout his head, he knew his actions towards Allie were the result of built-up rage caused by her restraining him, but in no way did it justify him lashing out at her the way he did and in no way did it soothe the guilt. Thinking back he recalled his tutelage years when his Father schooled him in the wrongs and rights, he remembered the cold and serious glare that his elder gave him when he was being counselled on the importance of never raising a hand towards a female. Now he found himself in a situation where he was determined to rescue someone who was nothing more than a common criminal and that he also viciously struck a woman, his Father would be ashamed.

Shaking off the thoughts for a second and returning himself to the pursuit, he returned his gaze back towards the young girl, restrained and grasped by both her arms by one guard on each arm and a single guard leading the way it was clear she was being led towards a stone archway at the end of the street, that led to another side-street.

Finally breaking free of the crowd, Kai increased his pace towards the archway that the guards had disappeared in moments before. Visible through the end of the blinding sunlit tunnel-like archway Kai could barely make out through the glare of the sun; the two guards holding firmly onto the young girl's arms up ahead. He raced through the tunnel, determined and approaching his goal.

With the element of surprise on his side and drunk on his own adrenaline, Kai felt he could easily best a platoon of the City's finest guards and he began to clench his fists.

The untapped rage he felt whilst in the midst of battle during the Festival began to re-surface, his fists firmly clenched, sweat trickling down from his forehead and the adrenaline pumping away rhythmically inside him like a piston, as he headed out of the other side of the archway, into the sunlight and towards the guards.

His eyes no longer blinded by the sun's furious glare, he focused towards the young captive, noticing her and her captors staring right back at him, suddenly without so much as a split second to take stock of his surroundings, a darkened club soared through the air and smashed him heavily onto the side of his head, knocking him painfully to the cobblestone ground like a sack of potatoes.

Looking upwards from the dirt, he could barely make out the concealed third guard that approached from behind the exit of the archway loosely swinging his club like a baseball bat and looking amused upon his fallen prey. His eyes feeling heavier by the second he fell into a deep painful void of darkness.

* * *

Kai's eyes shot open he found himself alone in a world of darkness where no glimmer of light could be seen. His voice betrayed him; he cried out as loud as he could but not even the quietest of whispers escaped from his lips. A harsh gust of wind fell upon him from the nothingness that surrounded him. He tried to move forward but his legs refused to budge; he found himself frozen helplessly to the spot. Suddenly a ferocious and mighty sound echoed amidst the dark void. Unable to pinpoint where the sound originated from, Kai began to panic, again helplessly struggling to move his feet even an inch forward to no avail, Kai suddenly realised that the sound was getting closer and louder towards him. From out of the near pitch black darkness appeared something gigantic. A dark silhouette appeared from out of the darkness, winged and serpent like; the beast circled above him, its eyes a bright shade of purple like two sparkling amethysts glaring down upon him.

"Eitr open the gate!" it cried

* * *

Kai awoke in thick layer of sweat, a continuous ringing echoed in his ears and the side of head throbbed painfully where he was struck.

Looking around Kai found himself in a small dank stone cell, moss growing unattractively upon the stone walls and daylight leaking in from the barred window behind him. One side of the cell was removed and barred giving that caged feel about his surroundings. He found himself sitting upon an uncomfortable tattered bunk that hung unceremoniously from the wall by two iron chains and tally marks etched decoratively into tiled floor. Feeling defeated Kai laid back down upon the brick like bunk, laying his head upon the dusty pillow.

"It would seem that you have a rather ugly habit of getting yourself knee deep in trouble" called out a familiar voice from the bars of the cell door.

Kai quickly lifted his head up from the dusty pillow and turned his head towards the cell door, to find the same smartly dressed soldier that welcomed both him and Allie the night before after being rescued from the Festival standing resolute through the iron bars.

"Mortis! its you" Kai called out, immediately launching himself up from the bunk and grasping hold of the cell bars like a dog eager to be realised from its cage.

"GENERAL Mortis, if you please" the soldier snapped back with a serious look upon his face and beginning to wipe off a speck of dust that lay upon his uniforms sleeve. It was obvious to Kai that Mortis wasn't the sort of man to let the absence of military courtesies slip past him so lightly. Staring back at the serious looking officer who remained silent and obviously awaiting an immediate correction or apology, Kai figured it wouldn't hurt but to oblige, after all a meaningless apology on his part could make all the difference in getting him out of the mess he found himself in.

"My apologises...General, a big misunderstanding has arisen, myself and my friend... well a person I know... knew, has been setup and arrested".

"Aww you refer to the young female street urchin who has been accused of an amber level felony of pick pocketing" the General responded with a hint of amusement disguised in his voice.

"...Yes but-" began Kai but quickly interrupted before he could utter another word.

"-The same individual who earlier today was witnessed by over a dozen Rabantian guards stealing from one of the City's most finest and respected residents ?".

"Err yes but the resident..." again tried Kai anxious to get his point across but shot down yet again by another interruption by the General.

"Again the same female individual, who I'm led to believe has been linked to more than fifty other amber level cases of pick pocketing and burglary in the past month alone?"

Kai let go of the cold metal of the cell bars and stepped away, falling back upon the hard bunk with an expression of defeat masked upon his face.

The sound of the barred door unlocking and sliding opened echoed throughout the cell and the audacious General strolled in proudly. Gazing down upon his depressed prisoner and without so much as a word, he sat down beside him on the bunk and rested his military cap by his side.

Breaking the silence, the General let back a comfortable sigh and began to speak out loud. "I must admit, I find it more than a little confusing that a mere block dweller would associate himself with the likes of a former member of the Valkarian Guard as well as a petty street urchin all of a sudden. To me you seem more than a little out a place here".

"Not as confused as I am I assure you" retorted Kai under his breath, whilst keeping his eyes fixed straight towards the stony floor.

"So why did you help the girl?"

Kai lifted his head back up and looked straight at the General, not entirely sure if the General was interested in the slightest at whatever answer he could muster.

"I don't know if I'm honest, I hate thieves as much as you do, but I think luring a person to actually committing a crime is equally as bad" answered Kai truthfully with a hint of sarcasm nestled in his voice.

"If that's the case wouldn't I have to arrest every single aristocrat I find who hangs his purse by his side for 'luring' a pick pocket to steal" the General responded equally as sarcastic.

The sarcastic remark hit the spot and Kai's expression suddenly transformed from defeat to rage, as he glared venomously back at the obviously amused General . "What I saw was entrapment! one man set up as bait and a platoon of YOUR men ready to pounce on her when she springs the trap".

The General allowed the comment to digest and for Kai to simmer down for a few seconds, then nodded in what Kai figured was either fake agreement or respect.

"An astute assumption I must admit, point taken, but your mistaken about one thing for sure; the men who apprehended the girl was not assigned by me".

"I saw them myself, they were definitely Rabantian Guards!" Kai fired back.

"That I have no doubt, I can only assume they were soldiers not of my command. Sure enough if what you say is true, their operation could be looked upon as unlawful".

Kai rested his head into his hands before slowly lifting it back up to look upon the General, who was glancing round at the dank bleak cell.

"Why am I not surprised? is there anything about this City that isn't corrupt and dirty?"

"Luckily not me" the general smirked back towards him, retrieving a used cigar from his breast pocket and reigniting it. "Some of the higher powers are rumoured to have a keen interest in purging certain burglary and pick pocketing candidates from the streets, their methods are indeed unorthodox and don't particularly follow standard arrest protocols".

"So why are you here telling me all of this? to gloat?" Kai responded resting his head back against the stone wall and looking up towards the mould ridden, cobblestone ceiling.

"Your arrest was brought to my attention by Miss Vox, her description of the situation involving the young girl's makes me feel the whole arrest is indeed grounds for suspicion. I must admit I find it beyond coincidental that there was so many guards present at the time of arrest, it far exceeds standard patrol numbers for that time of the day, especially in that area. The facts do indeed hint towards a full scale, unsanctioned Sting operation having taken place".

"Wait! Allie knows i'm here?" responded Kai in a confused manner.

"Like I said she alerted me to your arrest and she seemed most determined and concerned when pleading your innocence. I came here solely for you to really verify her story and maybe shed some light on this rather baffling situation".

"So will you release us then?"

"Of course, after all you don't have the look of a dangerous accomplice about you, so I have no quarrel with letting YOU go".

"-and the girl?"

"The girl's release under the normal circumstances would not be so easily secured; as I'm sure you can imagine with the number of eye witnesses present at the time. However as I have reason to believe that the girl's apprehension was brought about by... unacceptable methods I find it more than likely the witnesses wouldn't appreciate undergoing a full scale analysis of the whole arrest. In addition the ingots that were claimed to be 'stolen' by the young urchin at the time of the arrest were not on her person when she was apprehended, so technically I have nothing to go on to keep her here."

"A simple, she can go too would have done, you know" Kai muttered under his breath with a hint of annoyance within the tone of his voice.

Mortis smiled and rose from the bunk, he walked slowly towards the cell door, slid it open and stepping to one side, presenting a way out.

"I guess Allie was right about you" Kai spoke up as he lifted himself up from upon the bunk and began walking towards the open doorway. "You are a decent person".

Mortis nodded in what Kai figured was either agreement or gratitude and slid the door shut behind them.


	17. Chapter 17: Burglar in the Pantry

**Chapter 17: Burglar in the Pantry**

Kai at first wasn't overly ecstatic about the idea of reuniting with Allie; but after his failure of going it alone, a gruelling recuperation in a bleak cell and after a lengthy conversation with Mortis whilst getting escorted back to the _Lilac Opal_, he soon realised that the idea made a lot more sense.

Reaching the main entrance of the hotel, Mortis signalled his companions to pull back and he turned towards Kai.

"I implore you to heed my warnings and abandon your investigation into Magister Kovolt, he's more dangerous than you two can ever comprehend" he said in a quiet yet serious tone.

"Allie is convinced he's somehow connected to my parent's death, I can't just drop it!" Kai responded.

Mortis looked back towards the young man with what Kai figured was a look of pity and simply nodded in agreement.

"Then you must do what is right by you. I will however be unable to assist you again, I take a heavy risk by interfering as much as I have" Mortis replied before hastily marching back towards the awaiting guards before Kai could so much as say another word.

Kai turned back towards the main entrance of the glamorous hotel and pushed himself through the heavy wooden door.

"I guess, I best make my peace with her... she'll have forgiven me by now" whispered Kai to himself with a small smile on his face.

* * *

Kai dived behind the luxurious cow hide leather chair as the fifth china plate flew rapidly over his head and struck the wall, covering Kai in china shrapnel.

"YOU HIT ME AND YOU EXPECT ME TO WELCOME YOU BACK!" Allie roared as she readied another plate.

Kai peered nervously over the arm of the chair awaiting another volley.

"YOUR BLOODY MAD!" she continued and launched another plate at the wall.

"But you got me out?!" he called out from his hiding place, "Mortis told me you did".

"DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT, YOU HIT ME AND RAN OFF CHASING SOME PICK-POCKETING TART!" she shouted back red in the face and primed to let loose another missile.

Kai popped his head up from behind the chair, "Yes I'm sorry, I was wrong, can you just calm down already and forgive me?!"

A china cup crashed squarely on the side of Kai's head and before falling back to unconsciousness yet again he realised that it would take a little longer than he predicted to obtain her forgiveness.

* * *

A night had past and the tension between Allie and Kai had mellowed significantly; Kai regained consciousness and the hotel room had become far less violent and like a shooting gallery.

"Ok, I may have over-reacted a little" Allie said handing Kai a tankard of Coor juice and a cold flannel for his head "how's the head?".

"It's fine, it's not as if I didn't deserve it" Kai replied trying not appear nervous when he noticed Allie's own tankard grasped firmly in her other hand.

"I was wrong to try and stop you-" she began

"-No, no I was wrong to interfere" he interrupted before resting his tankard lightly down upon the coffee table and signalling for Allie to take a seat beside him.

Allie laid Kai's bandana down upon on the table beside his tankard and followed Kai's gesture of taking a seat, Kai didn't have the heart to confess he forgot all about the gift he received from her, but he couldn't help but feel an overbearing sense of guilt when he recalled how he angrily discarded it in front of her.

After what seemed like hours of talking; including Kai reflecting on all he discussed about his interrogation with Mortis as well as the persistent warnings the General gave him about not pursuing their investigation into Rolo further, as well as how Allie discussed how she appealed to the General for help; the two retired for the night. As before, Allie took sole custody of the hotel bed and Kai yet again nested himself upon the couch, a surprisingly comfortable relief to the prison cell bunk he had the misfortunate of recuperating upon.

* * *

After waking up yet again from the same nightmarish dream he was troubled with the same day he had in the prison cell, this time however covered in a sticky sweat; Kai arose to his feet and began to pace hungrily around the dark hotel living room. Nightmares weren't something that usually troubled him before, his Mother used to say a nightmare is caused depending on the food a person ate the evening before but as Kai had next to no food the evening before, he found that hypothesis to be somewhat inaccurate. The sound of Allie's light snoring could be heard through the bedroom door and he figured she didn't share his same problem.

Investigating the kitchen cupboard, Kai found little to eat to soothe his cravings, realising that he had little hope of getting back to sleep due to his stomach growling the way it did for sustenance, he decided to venture throughout the hotel and seek out something to fill his belly.

Slipping on his trousers and jacket; Kai braved the darkened halls of the hotel and descended down into the lobby in search of the pantry. The moonlight leaked in through freshly scrubbed windows illuminating the lobby beautifully. Kai eventually found the pantry concealed deep within the bowels of the hotel basement and he quietly sneaked in and all the while careful not to alert the hotel manager's guard kitten from its nocturnal slumber.

Kai quietly crept into the small storage room and closed the door to ajar so he could keep an eye out for any staff as well as concealing himself better from obtaining a few items that wouldn't be missed. Looking around the room; Kai was amazed at the vast number of food and drink goods that were carefully situated on the shelves and racks. Apples piled carefully upon each other like a pyramid, wine bottles placed delicately on the shelves with all their labels in full view. Different kinds of meat hanging freely upon hooks upon the side of the walls. The room was a treasure trove for a person with a growling belly like he was.

"I guess I had you pegged all wrong" cried a soft feminine voice suddenly from within the unlit corners of the darkened Pantry.

Kai scanned over the barrels that lay stacked upon each other and saw nothing concealed within the shadows. Suddenly a speck of grain fell upon his shoulders from the ceiling.

High above the floor of the Pantry and balancing deep upon the sturdy wooden rafters that were secured high in the ceiling was the all too familiar sight of the hooded street urchin that he left soaked waist high in the city fountain and later got arrested trying to save.

Kai's face dropped and he immediately gave off a massive sigh before beginning to turn back around and leave the annoying thief in the shadows. To him leaving her behind seemed far more wiser and significantly less troublesome than giving her the time of day.

"I never took you for the blood hungry type to sign up for that barbaric massacre!" she called out to him again.

Kai stopped in his tracks and turned back round to glance up at the now smirking female who had pulled back the hood over her head and sat loosely upon the wooden beams with her feet dangling carefree over the edge.

"I'm not; I had my reasons for signing up to that nightmare". he responded with a hint of pride in his voice.

"Of course you did, let me guess; lining your pockets on the spoils and purses of fallen combatants or were you too busy planning to loot someone's house in all the commotion? You guild types have no class you know; it's just gold this and gold that, your kind makes me sick".

"I told you before I'm not a dirty thief, not like you and while we on the subject of judging people, don't forget; I was the one who tried to save you and got knocked out and arrested for my trouble" Kai snapped back before turning his back again to the young girl.

"Well... I didn't ask for your help".

Kai quickly turned to check the gap in the doorway; sure Allie was a bit of rag tag streetwise type who'd no doubt have hung around with the worst types of low life scum imaginable, but a part of him knew she wouldn't appreciate finding him liaising with an attractive young street urchin, especially after her barely forgiving him for striking her on account of the same street urchin.

"So was that pretty damsel your girlfriend then? asked the hooded figure who had jumped off the rafters and landed softly onto the Pantry room's stone floor without so much as making a sound.

Not a second had passed and the young crook had already approached the nearby food stores and began filling her pockets with whatever edible treasures that looked either succulent or small enough to stash away in the small cow hide satchel that hung loosely by her side.

Kai felt more than a little lost for words, not by the young hooligans apparent disregard again to the law, but by the question she fired towards him; especially as he never really thought of his feelings for Allie to be nothing more than a figment of his own confused imagination and now it would seem that his feelings were apparently plainly obvious to others.

"Well?" she pushed, all the whilst prying open a wooden crate and extracting a crimson orb like delicacy out of it. The young girl returned her gaze back towards Kai whilst biting a chunk off the juicy red apple and awaited his reply.

"What girl?" Kai responded unconvincingly, unable to look straight back into the girl's eyes.

"Don't be a Jack ass, you know who I'm talking about; that tough looking gal you made a half arse job at trying to protect the other night, if you ask me she was the one doing the protecting mind".

"Funny that; I wasn't asking you, but if you must know, she's merely an associate I'm simply helping out" Kai responded sounding more and more flummoxed every time he spoke. "We have an understanding; she has information I need, purely business... that's all"

Kai's 'on the spot' and unplanned response clearly hit the spot for the young girl as she immediately burst into a fit of hysterics whilst taking another bite from her stolen prize, before throwing it perfectly across the room and into an empty wooden barrel.

"Your absolutely right, anyway I just wanted to congratulate your survival, to survive the Festival is quite impressive, especially for one so-unseasoned as you".

Before Kai could respond the young urchin began to ascend the food shelves of the pantry in hope of perching herself back onto the wooden beam and traversing her way across towards the high up open window. Kai watched on in amazement as she ascended further and higher up the shelving when suddenly the top shelf snapped below the girl's feet and she fell backwards towards the stony ground of the pantry, without so much as realising what he was doing; Kai leapt forward and caught her mid flight before she crashed landed onto the hardened stone floor.

"So your Kai then?" she whispered at him whilst looking up at her rescuer from his shaking arms, her hair was clearly messed up and began to protrude from her cream coloured hood, but it didn't disguise the fact that the young girl was smiling up at him.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" he replied nervously.

"I got your name from the Festival listing after I saw you tackle a few beasties"

"Then I guess it's only fair you tell me your name then, after all I did just save you? he responded unaware that a small smile began to surface on his face.

"You've taken a shine to me too Kai?" she giggled suddenly to him.

"No... I just want to know the name of the Thief who's seems to be everywhere I look".

The young girl leapt to her feet and began to dust herself off before standing proud in front of him.

"The name's Kala, but rest assured I only stalk people who are financially worth the time of day, anyway nice meeting you Kai... I guess".

Kala placed her hand lightly upon another food rack and began to ascend higher up towards the ceiling. Suddenly an arrow struck the shelf above her head and she fumbled her footing, as she hung loosely upon the side of the rack. Kai turned quickly to find Allie dressed beautifully in another complimentary night robe and aiming her loaded new bow towards the dangling crook.

"The first shot was to grab your attention, the next one won't be so forgiving" she said angrily knocking her hair back from her view.

A lost for words, Kai stood gobsmacked and a little intimated to find Allie behind him clenching her bow and discovering him consorting with a thief.

"Get yourself down here and don't think about moving that tongue of yours or I'll let loose a bolt between your eyes... that counts for you too" Allie said gazing back at Kai. "I fancy a little girl talk".

* * *

**Hey everyone, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and hope you enjoy it **

**Chapter 18 shouldn't be too long (hopefully), please feel free to write any reviews or PM me.**

**Thank again :D **

**ASA**


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